Your greatest athletic accomplishment

[Repo Man]

I'll start with mine. The Markleeville Death Ride. (http://www.deathride.com/course.html) Though the course changes a little from year to year, both years I completed it, I did the five pass version - one hundred and fifty miles, and fifteen thousand feet of climbing.

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/7194/elemaplgxj5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Here I am descending from the peak of Carson pass, going fifty five MPH.
http://www.shocking.com/~z29/55+.jpg

I blew it in the dry climate and didn't drink enough, which really made me suffer. But I finished it, and came back for more next year.

So, what challenge have you completed against all odds?

[Steve100]

Nothing that comes to mind.

[cosmictraveler]

My greatest athletic ability is getting up out of bed in the morning.:D

[spidergoat]

I once ran a whole mile.

[Repo Man]

There must be some members who have run marathons, gone on epic hikes, maybe an ultramarathon runner or two?

[Dr Lou Natic]

Endurance wise I once had a wrestle last for 90 minutes with no break, and a real fight last for 40 minutes. I've ran about 10 kms many times but never much further than that, I've walked really far but who cares, I've cycled pretty far but nothing extraordinary. The wrestle was definately the furthest my endurance has been pushed.

Skill wise... countless things I did on a skateboard, hard to pin down one in particular. Skateboarding might be a joke to a lot of people, but really there are things I've done on a skateboard which only a handfull of people on earth can do, and if you go back through the history of mankind that number doesn't grow, if you go back just 15 years no one on earth could do things I still can do. I've done things that required truely miraculous levels of skill and balance the likes of which hardly any humans through history have posessed. So yeah, my answer to this thread unashamedly is becoming exceptional in the art of skateboarding.

[Spud Emperor]

I did complete a marathon with a raging hangover.
I spent the first ten miles just trying a jog the thing off then I just kept running, I tried raise my pace to cross the finishing line but was wracked with cramp and hobbled over the line.
Yes, part of my preparation involved a bottle of gin.

Came runner-up in a district squash championship.

My personal highlight was bodysurfing a monster swell on the shipwreck coast of Southern Australia.

[cosmictraveler]

Oh, I sailed around Key West a few times waving at tourists, if you might think that sailing is athletic. :)

[phlogistician]

Up and down Ben Nevis (tallest mountain in the British Aisles, but still kinda small at 1,344 m) in five hours fifteen minutes.

We prepared by walking half of the West Highland Way;

http://www.tyndrumbytheway.com/Img/WHWProfileLarge.jpg

From Tyndrum, to Fort William, then on 'rest day' cycled 30 miles around Fort William.

Then on the ascent of Ben Nevis, after having sun all week, it rained. Hence our quick time, nothing to see, we were inside the cloud.

[CutsieMarie89]

My boyfriend is a Marine and I spend a lot of time on the base with all of Marines and they like to pick on me and they tricked me into doing this training course thing with them. I can't recall a time I was more exhausted (at least right now). It's basically a boot camp obstacle course thing that covers 4 miles and you have to run the thing 5 times. So that's 20 miles + obstacles (like steeple chase kinda huh). Near the end my muscles stopped responding to what I wanted them to do and I had to crawl across the finish line. And then they all laughed at me, because they finished like 30 minutes before me. I hated them, the bastards.

[Orleander]

Oh wow, its been ages.

In 1983, my junior year in high school, I never missed a single basket. There is a basketball with my name on it in the High School trophy case.
I'm not coordinated; I can't dribble and move. I traveled all the time or I bounced the ball off my foot.
But if they got the ball to me, I could score. Weird how I had that kind of hand/eye coordination but couldn't move my feet while doing so.

[cosmictraveler]

Oh wow, its been ages.

In 1983, my junior year in high school, I never missed a single basket. There is a basketball with my name on it in the High School trophy case.
I'm not coordinated; I can't dribble and move. I traveled all the time or I bounced the ball off my foot.
But if they got the ball to me, I could score. Weird how I had that kind of hand/eye coordination but couldn't move my feet while doing so.

So your very good with balls huh...;)

[Orleander]

So your very good with balls huh...;)

LOL, only when I don't have to move.

[cosmictraveler]

LOL, only when I don't have to move.

You don't move much on your back , do you? :shrug:

[Oniw17]

I once went about 35 miles between riding a bike and keeping pace with my friend riding that same bike. That was pretty fun, except that we got lost for about 3 hour in these winding country roads and almost were attacked by someone's pet goat. Also, the fact that I was doing the majority of the running and that I was unable to go to school the next day kind of sucked. That was in eighth grade and the most I'd ever jogged before that was like a mile and a half. I agree with Dr. Lou that skateboarding is pretty hard though. I can do almost anything a certain group of my friends can do physically, and a lot that they can't, but I couldn't even do the simplest skateboard tricks that they were trying to teach me last week.

[EmptyForceOfChi]

I don't know what mine is, I can't make up my mind on it. I have done quite alot of things that are of a decent standard sporting/physical wise, but I felt like I accomplished something great everytime I got to the top of a climb/hike standing ontop of the mountains looking down at the landscape. I have climbed most mountains in the UK I think, the first ever mountain I got to the top of was Snowdonia in wales, that felt great I remember it vividly. There was a huge thunderstorm as we got more than halfway up but we still hiked through it, there was a sheer rock face drop on one certain point and I sat on this right angled edge like a huge step and dangled my legs off, the wind scared me and nearly blew me off. There was a pile of rocks at the very peak where hikers place columns of stones/slabs to try and claim highest point in southern uk, I kicked them all down and made mine the highest (I was really young).

I best a few of my old teachers in martial arts based feats/bouts of skill a few times, that felt both very proud and accomplished, but also dissapointed in a strange way.

I have never broken any records in speed or weight lifting, I can't lift strongman contest type weights or beat any running times. I have done some charity runs before but I didn't feel like I accomplished much, just ran around bummy esates in london alot. I don't think I could complete the london marathon, 26 miles thats alot.

peace

[cosmictraveler]

Oh, I can make a small, flat rock skip more than 20 times when I throw it across the water!

http://www.castlerv.com/IMG_1490.jpg

[Orleander]

LOL, liar. No one can skip a rock that many times.

[Steve100]

LOL, liar. No one can skip a rock that many times.

Yes you can.

The best thing I've ever skimmed was a grinding wheel.

[Orleander]

Not believing it. You might as well say you won the Heisman.

[cosmictraveler]

LOL, liar. No one can skip a rock that many times.

Sure they can! Many others I knew can do it as well as myself. It really isn't that hard at all. You just need really calm water and a really small flat rock.

[kenworth]

and a real fight last for 40 minutes. .

what happened?
also,what are the names of the things you@re talking about that you can do on a skateboard?


i played basketball for bristol once but unfortunately at that time in my life i didnt have the right attitude for competative sport.ie.i felt bad if other people lost.

probably my proudest acheivment,although not sporting,is climbing yufudake
http://www.jpgmag.com/photos/80930
while i had the flu and then having a victory cigarette at the top.

[Echo3Romeo]

I've run the Marine Corps Marathon twice, and the Rock & Roll Marathon in San Diego twice as well. Not in much marathon shape any more, as rugby and my line of work have conspired to bulk me up beyond what a good distance runner needs.

[spidergoat]

Oh, I forgot, I walked 12 miles on a day hike once, with a couple thousand foot elevation change. One summer I did this hike almost every weekend, going farther each time.

[Roman]

I did a 160 mile race with a moutainbike, an inflatable raft, and a pair of sneakers once. All off road. Took me 3 days.

[visceral_instinct]

Orly, I can make a flat rock skip around 20 times if I get it right. It's all about the angle you throw the stone at...

I once cycled 56 miles.

[Orleander]

Oh, I believe YOU can do it VI, just not cosmic.
:D

[visceral_instinct]

lol :D

[Dr Lou Natic]

what happened?
Just a schoolyard fight in grade 11, but it was pretty devestating, took up nearly a whole lunch hour, it was mostly a boxing match. Even though I've always been good at wrestling I saw it as dishonourable/lame to use in a fight for some reason. Me and my best friend just had wierd ideas of what was acceptable.
Do you want a play by play? 40 minutes of fighting is a lot to remember. It was one of those freakishly strong and determined farmer sons, I fucking hate them, kind of kicked his arse for ages, with huge rocking punches and elbows and knees to the head, but he'd obviously been kicked by mules and run over with tractors his whole life, and he just never let up. He also had huge hard fists and did rock me a couple of times. I definately won on points, but I was kind of glad when the bell rang, it did look like he just wasn't going to be stopped and eventually I would have gassed out.
These days I would approach it totally differently, like I said I used to actively refrain from wrestling opponents in fights, but now first thing I would do is take someone like that down.
I still don't like submissions, but I think if you place someone's head against a solid immovable object like the ground, and then pound it, even farmer sons can't take that.

I'm not saying it was one of my great fighting performances, just taxing stamina wise.


also,what are the names of the things you@re talking about that you can do on a skateboard?
Lipsliding handrails, nollie board sliding handrails, hardflipping down big sets of stairs, 180 nollie shovit (board does a 360, you do a 180 in the same direction- big spins we used to call them) to fakie over big quarterpipe hips, nollie shovit to smith grin on concrete blocks, little tech things like frontside flip to 5-0 stall to revert to fakie on a quarterpipe lip, etc. Heaps of shit, I was really good, nearly anything you could imagine (with a few peculiar exceptions). I'm kind of starting up again after about 8 years off, I suck, and the real scary shit I doubt I'll ever try again, but I can still do way more than most people on earth. Most people can stand still on a skateboard and jump off when it goes too fast- if they're lucky. Failing to jump off cleanly and eating shit is more common.

[cosmictraveler]

Oh, I believe YOU can do it VI, just not cosmic.
:D

HEY! :itold: I can do it still. :p

[madanthonywayne]

I'll start with mine. The Markleeville Death Ride. (http://www.deathride.com/course.html) Though the course changes a little from year to year, both years I completed it, I did the five pass version - one hundred and fifty miles, and fifteen thousand feet of climbing.

So, what challenge have you completed against all odds?
Nothing as impressive as you. I ran cross country in high school and one of our practice routes was about 13 miles, and I was in a 35 mile bike race.

I'm also a kick ass arm wrestler. We used to arm wrestle every day in junior high while waiting for school to start so I got to be good at it. There's actually a lot more skill to it than you'd think. You need to get the jump on the other guy and twist his arm towards you so he can't get any leverage. I used to routinely beat guys way more muscular than me. I remember being at a party once when I was 15 or so and these two big guys (maybe in their twenties) were arm wrestling. These were "good ole boys" with arms like legs. I walked up and said I'd take the winner. The guy laughed at me. But then I slammed his arm down to the table as he stared in disbelief. His buddy couldn't believe it, until I beat him too.

Sadly, there was no high school arm wrestling team, so my skills pretty much went to waste.

[Steve100]

I managed to do some crazy trick on a skateboard once. It was sort of a 360 double kickflip.

I'm shit on a skateboard though, and can't even land an ollie half the time.

[cosmictraveler]

I recall another, Limbo was a feat also. Almost broke my damn back once trying to do this ! :D

http://www.lettucemakethyme.com/assets/giant/limbo_garden.jpg

[scorpius]

built my own "stackwall" house, thats made of logs and concrete all by myself including the roof and all,..1600 square feet big...plus two car garage in two summers...

[Echo3Romeo]

built my own "stackwall" house, thats made of logs and concrete all by myself including the roof and all,..1600 square feet big...plus two car garage in two summers...
Pics?