Over the past year we’ve featured several extreme charity athletic events. I’m constantly amazed by the dedication of someone willing to walk or run so many miles. I’ve completed a 26.2 mile marathon and anything beyond that seems like an extreme event to me. I would have to be very motivated, and maybe a bit crazy, to commit to something longer than that.

You don’t just wake up one morning and say, “hey I think I’ll walk out of the house today and run 100 miles.” Nope. It takes a lot of training months in advance. You have to plan your workouts, stay on the plan and also do fundraising for your cause.

Plus many of these volunteers are doing this on their own, not part of an organized program. So they also have to plan for contingencies, like having a support team along the route, where to sleep if it’s multiple nights like most of these are, getting plenty to eat, and being safe along the way.

You really learn a lot about goal setting and goal achieving when doing any long distance event. But even more so for these kind of extreme events.

Here are a few of these amazing volunteer fundraisers / athletes:
Friends Complete 52-mile Walk Along the Thames River (England)
Australian Student Completes Second Long-Distance Walk for Charity this time walking 4,000 Kilometers
Woman Walks Nearly 400 Miles Across Ireland to benefit the Smile Train, a charity that provides surgery for children who suffer from cleft lip and palate.
Man Endures 896 Mile Run Through the Texas Heat to raise awareness of childhood obesity.