Kicker: Ultramarathon powered by Guinness

NICK EICHER, HOST: You’ve seen those 26.2 stickers on people’s cars—26.2 and 13.1—do you wonder what those are? Well, they refer to miles that make up a full marathon or a half marathon.

Robert Pope is way beyond those piddling distances. He’s an ultramarathoner.

Last week, he achieved a first: he ran from Galway on Ireland’s west coast all the way to Dublin on the other side of the island in less than 24 hours.

Here’s Pope on CBC radio:

POPE: So I'm gonna set meself this challenge, I think that I probably can't do it. I gave meself a 40% chance of actually pulling it off.

You’d think even a smaller chance of pulling it off, when you consider the racing fuel he chose. It wasn’t exactly the typical pre-marathon diet.

He downed a pint of Ireland’s famous brew and then took off across the island.

POPE: And we got to like 25 mile point and I said to my crew, I said, I think I'm gonna have to wind this up boys because I'm not sure if I fancy another 20 hours of feeling sick.

I don’t know why he thought he might feel otherwise!

Nevertheless with the encouragement of others along the way, he persevered and ended the 133.5 mile run the way he started it: with a second pint of Guinness.

Perseverance, not brew, made the difference.

POPE: Your body wants you to stop because you’re tired. But it literally sometimes is just keeping one foot in front of the other.

Words to live by.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

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