All serious athletes are used to withstanding high amounts of pain. When I was a serious runner, I think that was the thing the most people didn't understand -

All serious athletes are used to withstanding high amounts of pain. When I was a serious runner, I think that was the thing the most people didn't understand -- as you get better at running, the pain doesn't stop. You just get better at pushing through it. In any case, if you find this sort of thing inspiring, check out a documentary called Running on the Sun (trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-e4bOLAuXg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-e4bOLAuXg ). It's about the badwater ultra -- a 135 mile road race through death valley to Mount Whitney, including 13000 ft of vertical ascent. Featuring air temps up to 130F and ground temps around 200F -- people have sneakers melt. Race by application only; you have to have completed a bunch of ultras so hopefully you won't die trying. The men's record is something like 22.5 hours and the women's is I think slightly over 25 hours.