Ultramarathon Facts

A man called Dean Karnazes ran 350 miles in 80 hours with no sleep, ran a marathon in the South Pole in -25 °C temperatures without snowshoes, and ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days.

A stray dog showed up on Day 2 of a 155-mile ultramarathon across China's Gobi Desert and ran 77 miles alongside British runner Dion Leonard, crossing a river and sleeping in his tent. He named her Gobi. She later went missing in a city of 3 million people, and Leonard flew back to search for two weeks with 20 volunteers. They found her with a head wound and a limp - and she ran straight to him. She now lives with him in Edinburgh.

A 61-year-old potato farmer named Cliff Young showed up at the inaugural 875km Sydney-to-Melbourne ultramarathon in work boots and overalls. The professional runners laughed - then slept the first night. Young had no idea runners were supposed to sleep, so he just kept going. He won by 10 hours. He gave $7,000 of his $10,000 prize to the other five finishers.