The Wild, Wacky and, Yes, Naked World of Running

With my running in the Disney World Marathon less than a week away and my dreams filled visions of Mickey and Minnie incessantly chasing me around to get my autograph, I have had to continually reassure myself that this upcoming experience will be filled with excitement, delicious junk food and some roller coastin' with my dopeness wife CVSW. One such method I have utilized to gain these assurances is to look at how awesome the Disney Marathon course will be and hoping upon hope that the Magic Kingdom will bring me a marathon miracle.

Having looked at the course map for more hours than I billed last week and having seen time and time again over the (running) course of such time how creative a marathon can be, I have begun to become quite curious about how creative a race can actually be while ensuring a competitive environment and a worthwhile experience. Having searched the interweb for the bizarre, the wacky and the truly unusual, I have been left in a state of awe and have been left with only this to say: there are some seriously strange racing opportunities available to us runners! And so, dear readers, allow me to take you on a quick tour of some of the most unique races around this great country of ours (for my international fans, I would love to hear from you about similar races in your great countries as well!!):

* Getting To Know A New York City Block. With little doubt, the most bizarre race I have found is also the longest certified race in the world. While the Self-Trancendence 3100 Mile Race could be coined the most bizarre for the simple fact that the race, held in Jamaica, Queens, covers a distance of 3,100 miles, there is actually a different reason for this race's ascendancy to the top of the wacky list. You see, dear readers, not only do the competitors run 3,100 miles but they must do so by completing 5,649 laps of ONE New York City block within 51 days! The current record for the event is held by Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk of Germany who completed the 2006 running of the race in 41 days 8 hours, averaging 75 miles per day.

* Do I Need Exact Change For the Toll? Risking a host of respiratory diseases I cannot even imagine, runners competing in the Lincoln Tunnel Challenge 5K Fun Run start this race at the New Jersey side entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel, run the 5K course and finish in New York City right past the New York side entrance of the tunnel. Despite CVSW's wishes to the contrary, both myself and T,H,E K,I,D have already registered for this year's running of the Lincoln Tunnel Challenge and have been left to wonder whether the registration fees include the $5.00 toll or whether we will need to bring it with us on raceday.

* Let's Cheat And Take The Elevator! For three years now, I have tried and have failed to get entry into New York Road Runners' interesting, and I'm sure painful, Empire State Building Run-Up. Eliminating the whole concept of running forward, this race begins at the base of New York City's tallest building, the Empire State Building, and, after running up 1,576 steps, finishes on its Observation Deck which looms nearly a quarter- mile above Fifth Avenue. Since, as a junior in college, I lived on the second floor of a three-story walk-up and upon reaching my front door always finding myself struggling to catch my breath, maybe it's a lucky thing that I keep getting rejected from this race.

* Can I At Least Wear Gloves If It's Cold? Unfortunately, as time goes by and my age keeps going up, my tolerance for the cold correspondingly has gone down. I find myself rarely running races in which the outside temperature is less than 45 degrees and just thinking about how chilly it is outside gives me some goosebumps. That being said, I'm pretty sure that the AANR-SW sponsored Nude Racing Series is probably not for me. That's right, dear readers, in each of AANR-SW's 5K races over its season, runners need not worry about whether their shorts match their tshirts or whether their tshirts can absorb enough sweat, as they are encouraged to show up in the same clothes as when they entered this world (i.e. none). While I have many questions I would like to ask AANR-SW, two standout: (1) Can I at least wear an armband for my iPod? and (2) Are those slow runners still allowed to wear their ridiculous water-bottle belts?

* Caught In A Sandstorm. While not a 3,100 mile race around one New York City Block nor a race up the Empire State Building, the Marathon Des Sables is equally as punishing as runners must race 151 miles across the Sahara Desert in Morocco over the (running) course of 6 days. Aside from heating beaches and all things sandy (which generally are beaches), the fact that you need to tell the marathon organizers what blood type you are is reason in-an-of itself why you shall never see Mr. Petes running this dry marathon.

While I have listed five bizarre races, I'm sure there are many more I have missed. Should you, dear readers, know of any others, I strongly encourage you to let me know about them as it is my intention to have a running (pun intended) dialogue about which race ultimately deserves the crown for the most bizarre running event in the world!