Mental – The Toughest, Bloodiest And Hardest Challenges In The World – BionicOldGuy

This is an entertaining book by Helen Summer about some of the most difficult ultramarathons in the world. It is a combination of jaw-dropping descriptions of the courses and first-person accounts by people who have run them. Most of the events are ultra-running, but there are some other adventures like kayaking and triathlons thrown in. 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, like the Yukon Arctic Ultra in Canada. My favorite line was the description of the runners from China who read an account of the Sahara race 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 usually why she tries to take books like this away from me. But I enjoy them because they make my own adventures seem sane in comparison. It’s also safe because I can’t run anymore after two hip replacements. Now if I’d read this 20 years ago or so when I still had cartilage in my hips, it might have been dangerous.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it’s descriptions of an incredible variety of adventures.