50-50-50

The author of the book, UltraMarathonMan, seems to be on a mission to complete 50 marathons in 50 states of US in 50 days. That is real crazy considering that sane people may not run more than two or three marathons per year to allow for enough recovery and to have a good race.

This ultra-crazy runner, who has been on David Letterman's show, has also run 560 kms non-stop in around 80 hours and has won one of the toughest ultra marathons(any race that has a distance exceeding the marathon i.e. 42 kms 195 metres) on earth - The Badwater ultramarathon(whose course starts in the Death valley, CA at 85 metres below sea level and covers 135 miles before finishing near the top of Mt. Whitney at 2533 metres asl) in 2004. The badwater ultra is an unforgiving brutal race subjecting runners to temperatures that are as high as 55 degrees celsius in death valley during mid-day to near-freezing temperatures at the top of Mt. Whitney.
Not many (<100 runners) participate in the race and those who complete it have something to really brag about(even if they finished last), while those who win it, well, might as well consider it to be a diamond-studded crown among their running achievements.