Those kinds of goals are great, but have you ever considered setting an amazing goal? We're talking about once-in-a-lifetime, crazy accomplishments--the kind of goals that set world records.
From silly to superhuman, here are 10 crazy running feats, all verified by Guinness World Records, that will amaze and inspire you.
1. Fastest Marathon Running Backwards
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Some of us can only dream of breaking the four-hour marathon mark. But on October 17, 2004, Xu Zhenjun blew that time out of the water, completing the Beijing International Marathon in 3:43:39... while running backwards.
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Finishing a marathon is quite a feat no matter who you are, but imagine how tough it would be if you weighed more than 400 pounds. In 2013, California native Charles Bungert finished the Los Angeles Marathon in 8:23:40 weighing in at 427 pounds, 9 ounces.
Bungert, who carries the weight well on his 6'6" frame, says the idea started as a kind of dare from friends, but became a serious endeavor when his mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. He decided to use the race to raise money for her treatment.
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On October 13, 2017, English stuntman Antony Britton set himself on fire (wearing protective stuntman garb, of course) and then ran--without the use of an oxygen mask--both the fastest 100 meter sprint (24.58 seconds) and the longest distance (204.23 meters) by a person in "full-body burn," as Guinness calls it. The best part? Britton completed his running feats for Candlelighters, a children's cancer charity based in Leeds, UK.
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Johnny Salo's record for winning the longest running race has stood for nearly 90 years, largely because there hasn't been a longer race since. In 1929, the 36-year-old Finnish-born Salo covered 3,635 miles in a transcontinental race from New York City to Los Angeles . His time was 525 hours, 57 minutes and 20 seconds--that's over 79 days at an average pace of nearly seven miles per hour. What's even more amazing, Salo edged out an English competitor by only two minutes and 47 seconds.
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Could you run 26.2 miles 51 days in a row? That's what Italian runner Caporaso Enzo did from February 23 to April 13, 2008. Note that this record was for official marathons, and not simply runs of a marathon distance. That record is 55 days, set by Australia's Matthew Daniels in 2016.
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On May 29, 2017, Luca Turrini of Australia ran 162.29 miles in 24 hours--on a treadmill. The agony.
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There are a lot of running superdads out there, but Calum Neff of Canada gets the ultimate bragging rights. At the 2016 Toronto Marathon, Neff pushed his four-year-old daughter, Alessandra, 26.2 miles in a blistering 2:31:22.
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There are many world records for racing in costume, but only one for running as a whoopee cushion. On April 30, 2016, Rakshith Shetty finished the Nirabhaya Midnight Marathon in Bangalore, India, in 1:22:44 dressed as a bright pink whoopee cushion. Think you can go the whole distance? Just beat David Smith, who ran a time of 3:38:14.
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