A McLean, Virginia, man notched hundreds of miles on the road and thousands in the air last month. He ran seven marathons on seven different continents in just seven days.
Longtime marathon runner Frank Fumich started his adventure with a race in the frozen wasteland of Antarctica on Nov. 15 as part of The Great World Race.
“Antarctica is super beautiful when the sun’s out, and the weather is ‘good.’ The temperature was about 0 degrees Fahrenheit,” he told WTOP.
He and other racers completed 10-kilometer-long loops until they reached 26.2 miles and then hopped back on a plane and headed for Cape Town, South Africa, for their second race. At the finish line, another long flight to Perth, Australia, awaited.
“We basically ran and then we’d get on a bus and drive back to the airport. We had to go through security and customs like anybody else,” Fumich said. “Then we got back on our plane. It was sort of like our home.”
Fumich said for him and the other runners, it was the first time in their lives they looked forward to a long flight so they could get a little rest and recovery before they deplaned to run yet again.
“We get on the plane and everyone’s, you know, moaning and groaning and limping around and it became a big family.”
Fumich said he was not big on special recovery products and stretches and instead capped off each run with a glass of bourbon.
“I didn’t set any records, other than seven marathons on seven continents in seven days with seven bourbons.”
He and other runners got a little bit of a break in Istanbul, Turkey, because they were able to tackle both Europe and Asia by simply crossing the Bosphorus Strait, which splits the two continents.
“That was one night where we actually got to stay in a hotel and not get on the plane,” Fumich said. However, runners did have to run one of the marathons at 9:30 p.m. to accomplish the effort.
The hardest marathon, by far, was the sixth race in Cartagena, Colombia, according to Fumich.
“The actual air temperature was maybe 85, but the humidity was 95% and the feels-like temperature was 109,” he said.
Fumich, who has run 140-plus marathons in his life, said this particular event was the most difficult and “miserable marathon experience” he had ever had.
“We were all struggling to get through that heat,” he said.
Why go through the punishing feat?
“You want to see the world, very quickly, but you want an incredible adventure and you also want to push your limits and see what you’re made of,” Fumich said. “This is the perfect event to sort of do all those things and meet new and amazing friends from around the world.”
Since his return to Virginia on Nov. 21, he has run two marathons in the D.C. area.
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