Two pieces of running inspiration for the week

First up we have Jim Hicks from Spokane (I think...). I know I'm overweight...by standard BMI readings I'm so obese I shouldn't be able to get off the couch (apparently it's not normal for a guy who's 5'7 to weigh 225 or whatever I'm at right now). But then, the BMI doesn't account for "frame size" and I've got a big one. "Big Boned" as my sainted mother would say.

Anyhow, I've got nothing on Jim. He started out close to 600 pounds a few years ago, now he's down to 195 and does triathlons. He's running the half marathon distance in the Over the Dam run this Sunday.

Second we have Steven Bethune, a 24-year-old grad student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He's not 600 pounds. In fact, from the picture he looks like a runner. Which is good, since this summer he's going to run across the freaking country to raise money for the American Heart Association. He's trying to raise $50,000, which works out to what...$16.67 a mile or so? He's starting in New York on August 15th and will end up in California some time later. The "Itinerary" link on the site doesn't work, so we can't see the route, but the word is he's going to average about 40 miles a day which, assuming he takes no time off at all (which would be insane...) would put him in California some time in late October or early November.

I now no longer think that running a marathon in October is crazy, nor does it seem dauntingly impossible. But then, I haven't had to run more than 5.5 miles yet...