Mental – World’s Hardest, Bloodiest, Hardest Challenges – BionicOldGuy

This is a fun book by Helen Summer about some of the toughest ultramarathons in the world. It is a combination of fascinating course descriptions and personal accounts from the people who have taught them. Most of the races are ultra runs, but there are also some other adventures like kayaking and triathlons. They cover the range from the highest race in the world, “La Ultra” (“The High”) in the Himalayas in India, to some of the coldest such as the Yukon Arctic Ultra in Canada. My favorite line was the description of runners from China who read about a race in the Sahara in Jordan and were inspired to run it themselves. As the author pointed out, “reading can be a dangerous sport.” My wife would agree, which is why she usually tries to take such books away from me. But I enjoy them because they make my own adventures look reasonable in comparison. It’s also safe because after two hip replacements I can no longer run. If I had read this now about 20 years ago, when I still had cartilage in my hips, it might have been dangerous.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its descriptions of incredibly varied adventures.