How far can you run?

After reading through the Comrades Ultra thread on the training forum a question hit me. So after picking myself off the floor i decided to post it as a thread.

How far is it possible to run without stopping.
What are the bounderies of human limitations?( i know i said that in the Comrades thread but it took me ages to think it up.)

I will start, the furthest distance i have run without stopping is a Half Marathon, an unimpressive 13.1 miles.

Comments

  • 26.2 is quite far enough for me ta very much. Have absolutely no desire to push my own personal limitations any further than that! (though I did have difficulty transitting from run to walk once I'd crossed the finish line - my legs seemed to have gone into auto)
  • I am the opposite, i have problems changing from walk to run every time i put on my trainers. I haven't found the auto button yet.
  • Last longest run was 26.2 in 1983.

    Curently I don't trust my knees to last more than 13.1

    How about doing a survey of age-related run-without-stopping / age statistics? You'd have to specify the maximum lenght of stop which didn't count as a stop of course. I suggest that 2 minutes maximum is sufficient to evacuate the bowels or bladder but still prohibits elicit gourmet meals or sleep-ins?
  • You have hit on something there, do the elite ahletes stop for wee wee's or do it on the run like the cyclists, or put up with the nappy rash.

    So many questions.
  • 26.2 is the max I'm interested in doing. I don't seem to be comfortable at that distance, in spite of training for several. A clubmate is and is doing the Comrades this year. Another clubmate does 100k races.

    Some nutters down my gym are doing a 24 hour treadmill record, so will need to do over 100 miles. What's worse is that the 100 mile record on the track is something like 10 or 11 hours, so that's somewhere around 15 or 16kph average. Scary!
  • Ruuners are scared of runners' nippl elet alone p*ss*rs' rash. Of course we stop. What do you think we are? Animals?

    Takes longer as you get older tho'
  • It's all relative of course - here we're using phrases like "an unimpressive 13.1 miles", when to any non-runners, the thought of running that far would scare the cr@p out of them.

    Most people at work think I'm nuts when I say that I'm running home (about thirteen miles) and ask me if there's something wrong with the trains.
  • Just doing some late proof-reading. For "elicit" read "illicit" in message 4.

    Time I got my kit on and did some running instead of reading about it.
  • 32 miles at the moment (I ran to a local marathon, did the 26.2 miles and then ran home again).

    but I have my eye on an ultra run - West Highland Way - 95 miles of mountains and rugged terrain. Might do it next year if I can convince anyone to do it with me.
  • I don't really know. What I do know is that the longer I run in training the easier it gets. Not raced more than 26.2 so far but have my eye on a 50-miler in June.

    I figure if I can last the 226km of an Ironman, I should be able to last an 80km run? Fingers crossed.
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