Thursday, April 3, 2008

EXTREME ULTRAMARATHONING

I was thinking about my races this year and I began to realize that my races will take me to many of the "extremes" of the United States.

Southernmost City in the Contiguous United States: Keys Ultra 100 will end in Key West. Key West is the Southernmost City of the contiguous U.S. at 24°33′33″N, 81°47′03″W. It also hosts the Southernmost Point of the contiguous U.S.

Hottest Recorded Temperature in the United States: The Badwater 135 starts in Badwater, Death Valley. On July 10, 1913 a temperature of 134 degrees F (56.7 C) was recorded in Death Valley. It also holds the extreme record for Hottest summer average in Western Hemisphere (US): Death Valley, Calif., 98 °F (36.7 °C). Source: HypertextBook

Highest Point in Contiguous United States: Badwater 135 will take me to the Mt. Whitney Portal where, I hope and pray, I will finish and that I will be able to continue the next day to the summit of Mt. Whitney. At 14,505 feet it is the highest point in the contiguous United States. .

Highest City in U.S. Territory: The Leadville 100 miler starts at Leadville, Colorado. At 10,152 feet, Leadville is the highest city in all of the U.S. territory. Source: Wikipedia
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Lowest Point In the United States: At 282 feet below sea level, Badwater Basin in Death Valley is not only the lowest point in the U.S. territory, it is the lowest point in the western hemisphere.

Top 100 Endangered Sites: OK, I admit, I had to search for this one, but since I am running the Mother Road 100 miler on historic Route 66, I had to find some "extreme" title. Route 66 has been named to the list of the Most Endangered Sites by the World Monument Fund. Source: Wikipedia

5 comments:

Anil Rao said...

Thats interesting range of races you are doing. also mnt blanc must be close to top of europe ?..

Alan said...

Hi Anil:

Well, tecnically it is Mt. Elbrus which lies partially on Europe's border with Asia in Russia near Georgia. But a peak completely within Europe, yes it would be Mont Blanc (not that I will be climbing the peak). If you want a great read about the highest peaks, Seven Summits is awesome!

Alan

Anonymous said...

Leadville, Colorado is the highest INCORPORATED city in the U.S. (although this is being contested by Winter Park, which recently annexed its ski mountain). Alma, Colorado is said to be the highest town in the U.S.

Alan said...

I agree - Alma is listed as the highest "town" (with year long residents) in the U.S., but Leadville is the highest city.

Chihping Fu 傅治平 (超馬阿爸) said...

One more for your extreme - UTMB, the 100 mile event with most runners!

Wish you complete all of these! Looking forward to your all war stories at Wasatch :-)

Chihping