Here it is January 28th in the sunshine state, the weather is crap  and my motivation level is about as high as the temperature.  So, instead of hitting the treadmill I’m hitting YouTube and watching the Discovery Channel’s, “Toughest Race on Earth with James Cracknell.”

If you’ve never heard of James Cracknell, don’t worry neither had I before watching this show.  Seems the guy is a British rowing champion and a double Olympic gold medalist, and rather famous on the other side of the pond.  I discovered him when I was looking for adventure racing videos on YouTube and when I saw the title, “Toughest Race on Earth” you know I had to check it out.  This documentary focuses on the running of the Marathon Des Sables.  Don’t know what that is either?  Well, neither did I.  It seems that the Des Sables is a 6-day ultra which is equivalent to running 6 regular marathons in a row.  Six!  Not tough enough for you?  Well, did I fail to mention that the Des Sables is ran in southern Morocco in a place you may have heard of, the Sahara desert!  Check out some nice photos here or click the image below:

Basically, the documentary is about a 6 foot 4, 216lb gold medal rower who decides to tackle probably the toughest running event on the planet.  I won’t spoil the ending for you, you just have to check it out!  But believe me, watching the video should provide you with plenty of motivation to keep pushing during your next adventure race

Once you’re done with the video, you might want to check out his latest book, “Touching Distance” an autobiography that describes his athletic achievements as well as his struggles to recover from a biking accident where he was struck in the head by the side mirror of a passing semi while attempting to cycle, row, run and swim from Los Angeles to New York within 18 days

Wouldn’t you know it, now I feel guilty about my laziness.  Off to the treadmill!