10 Hardest Things To Do In Sports

I know I'm being a pain in the ass for posting 3 times in a row, but I wanted to add one more thing if I could...

Many of the aforementioned sports, aside from running, involves some type of advisary. The batter must face the pitcher. The boxer must face his opponent. The difference between those sports and running is that the runner must face his or herself. You are you're biggest competitor. If you can overcome your own faults to, in a sense, beat yourself you have attained one truly great accomplishment.

I would put :

winning an ultra

No. Winning a US ultra outside of the national Champs 100km or USA 24 Hour Champs isn't any big deal. A 2:25 marathoner with some gonads would eat up most guys currently at the top of the ultra list.

For HARD try:

The Badwater 135 mile in July under 30-hours.

The RAAM - Cycling across US in about 10 days on next to no sleep.

Iditasport Run - Run the Iditarod Trail (over 1,000 miles) pulling a sled with your gear, in the cold and dark, fending of aggressive moose.

Hi I am earth have we met? There are 25-30 guys from Kenya alone that can run under 4min for the mile.

How about running a 4:15 1500 - at the end of a DECATHLON (Kip Janvrin, several times)!!! Now that takes some gonads, and a LOT of heart. That guy is one tough cookie!

this post is dumb, you could always say somthing is harder than another, if you say "a 4minute mile is the hardest" then i could say well a "3:59 mile is harder" all the way down to 0.

You are right and wrong about winning ultras. You are right in that just winning an ultra doesn\'t mean much; just like road races of all distances, there are plenty of relatively non-competitive races out there. You are wrong in your assertion that outside of the US 100k and 24hr championships, there are no prestigious ultras. As the most obvious example, Western States attracts a deeper and more competitive field than either of the two races you mentioned. The JFK 50-mile, Leadville 100, Angeles Crest 100, White River 50 mile, and probably numerous other races often have deeper fields than the US 100k and 24hr. I would say that in general, as far as the US ultra scene goes, trail races and especially 100 mile trail races are where most of the top competitors go. As far as your assertion that most 2:25 marathoners could \"eat up\" the top ultrarunners in the US, all I can say is, you\'re wrong, and I\'m curious where you get your info about ultras--sounds to me like you\'ve picked up a few scraps of info and jumped to your own conclusions without any firsthand experience. Personally I\'ve participated in quite a few and have witnessed numerous 2:25 and faster marathoners get beaten by guys with significantly slower PR\'s. Tough terrain is a great equalizer. Don\'t get fooled by looking at overall pace and thinking \"how hard can 10 minute miles be?\"

Still, I will wholeheartedly agree that \"winning an ultra\" isn\'t one of the 10 most difficult things to do in sports.

And "duh" is right. The very premise of this post is flawed. Most of the posts remind me how defensive most runners are about their sport, and how desperate they are to be respected for being so tough and gutsy. Face it--and I love running as much as the next guy--running is generally a pretty boring sport if you're not personally involved. Criticizing other sports for not being "real sports" is a bit like the pot calling the kettle black. Distance running requires very little of what could be called "skill", and its appeal is hard to translate to somebody who doesn't participate themselves. That's why the only spectators at meets are friends and family of runners.

So, the USA list just lost all credibility in my mind when they claimed that finishing a marathon was tougher than finishing the Tour de France. I can see no rational argument for this being true. Oprah, George Bush, Al Gore, among others, have completed marathons. I'm sure those guys could not finish the easiest of the Tour stages within the time cut-off.

How hard is Zatopek's triple (5k, 10k, marathon) in this day and age?

TomM,

You are right man.

Ultras are a different animal. You can't just take a 2:25 marathoner and put him in an ultra like Western States and expect him to fare well.

Anyone who has not run at least a 50 miler really can't know what it's like to run an ultra (I don't count 50k as an ultra).

Train for a tough ultra trail race, run it, tell us how you fared against the competition, and then say how easy it is.

I also agree though that winning even the Western States 100 doesn't belong in the top 10 toughest things in sports to do. It does take serious gonads to do it though.