THE Lowly Peon

The Real Meaning of Endurance

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29 April 2010, 8:27am

This article is insane. It's about Robic, a guy who has trained himself into essentially going crazy, such that he can compete in long distance races. One he does every year is a race from San Diego to Atlantic City in nine days. That's 800 miles longer than the Tour de France in about a third of the time. (!!)

The article describes how after a certain point, his brain can barely function. He is allowed only to decide what music to listen to, when to go to the bathroom, and food selection. His team tells him everything else, while he hallucinates and asks the same question ten times in five minutes.

"I find motivation everywhere," Robic says. "If right now you look at me and wonder if I cannot go up the mountain, even if you are joking, I will do it. Then I will do it again, and maybe again." He gestures to Mount Stol, a snowy Goliath crouched 7,300 feet above him, as remote as the moon. "Three years ago, I got angry at the mountain. I climbed it 38 times in two months."