N THE WESTERN DESERT, Egypt - Three ultra-endurance athletes have just done something most would consider insane: They ran the equivalent of two marathons a day for 111 days to become the first modern runners to cross the Sahara Desert's grueling 4,000 miles.

"It will take time to sink in ... but this is an absolutely once in a life time thing. They say ignorance is bliss, and now that I know how hard this is, I would never consider crossing the Sahara on foot again," said American runner Charlie Engle, 44, hours after he and the others completed the run at Egypt's Red Sea.

Engle said he, Canadian Ray Zahab, 38, and Kevin Lin, 30, of Taiwan, ran the final stretch of their journey that took them through the Giza pyramids and Cairo to the mouth of Suez Canal on four hours of sleep. Once they hit the Red Sea, they put their hands in the water to signify crossing the finish line.

"We touched the water in Senegal at the beginning, and we touched the water in the Red Sea at the end. They were the bookends of our journey," Engle, of Greensboro, North Carolina, said on the telephone from a hotel room in Cairo.

In less than four months, they have run across the world's largest desert, through six countries — Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya and finally Egypt.

A film crew followed them, chronicling the desert journey for actor Matt Damon's production company, LivePlanet. Damon plans to narrate the "Running the Sahara" documentary.

The trek is one of extremes. The relentless sun can push temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, but at night it sometimes dips below freezing. Strong winds can abruptly send sand swooping in every direction, making it difficult to see and breathe.

Running through turbulent conditions is nothing new for these athletes who have traveled the world competing in adventure races. But they say nothing has tested their physical and mental limitations like the Sahara.

Throughout the run, the runners have been stricken with tendinitis, severe diarrhea, cramping and knee injuries all while running through the intense heat and wind — often without a paved road in sight.

"This has been a life changing event," Engle said.

The runners say they undertook the challenge to see if they could accomplish something that many have called impossible. They use GPS devices to track their route and teamed up with local experts and a host of sports professionals who also followed them, along with the documentary crew, in four-wheel drive vehicles.

Typically, the three began each day with a 4 a.m. wake-up call. About an hour later, they started running. Around noon, they took a lunch break at a makeshift camp, devouring pasta, tuna and vegetables. A short nap on thin mattresses in a yellow-domed tent usually followed before they headed out on the second leg of their day's run.

Finally, around 9:30 p.m., they called it quits each day, returning to camp for a protein and carbohydrate-packed dinner before passing out for the night.

Despite the preparation and drive to finish, the runners said they often questioned — mostly to themselves — what they were doing. Zahab described stopping one recent day for a bathroom break only to discover the wind was blowing so harshly that he couldn't keep the sand out of his clothes. "And I thought to myself, 'What the hell am I doing?'" he said.

But Zahab kept going, as did the other two, never skipping a day. Most days the three ran a total of 44 to 50 miles — sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.

They were interviewed by The Associated Press on Saturday — day 108 — on the side of a road about 112 miles from Cairo in Egypt's harsh Western Desert, part of the greater Sahara.

At several points in their trek, the athletes stopped near sparsely populated wells to talk with villagers and nomads about the difficulties they face finding water. That marked another goal of the run — raising awareness for the clean water nonprofit group H2O Africa.

"We have seen firsthand the need for clean water, which we take for granted in North America. It's such a foundation for any community," Zahab said during day 108's lunch break. The three plan to fund-raise for the group after they return home and finish recuperating.

"It started off as a huge motivator, especially as we passed through countries where the water wasn't clean," Engle said.

But as the trio's bodies became more depleted, the focus was "the day-to-day battle to stay alive and keep moving," he said.

yikes.

It must be nice to be rich and fit.

I think I'll try to be the first man to fly solo around the world in a balloon!!! Who fucking cares?

pete does.

I don't think those two things are even close to comprable.

I for one, am impressed.

How about the first man to windsurf across the Atlantic Ocean? It will open up a whole new era of transoceanic travel and leisure sport!

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006105938

I will definitely be buying this LivePlanet documentary when it comes out.
This is probably the greatest physical feat of all mankind; a world record that will never be broken.

So you're against athletic achievments of all kinds, I take it?

No. I'm against turning someone into a celebrity for a purely self-aggrandizing feat of whatever, athletic or not.

I mean, these guys had to take three months of their lives to run this distance, not even taking into account the necessary training. What, they have nothing better to do with their lives? No obligations to work, family, anything other than their egotistical desire to "push their body to the limit"? For what? To be the first persons to do something that nobody in their right mind would want to do?

This is different from being the first (or even a subsequent person) to reach the North Pole, or to climb Mount Everest. This isn't like they were the first to cross the Sahara on foot. They were the first to cross running at top speed. Do you think someone will come along and try to break their record and run across the Sahara in two fewer days sometime? No.

Whatever. I hope these guys enjoyed spending their time and money this way. I hope it was all they hoped for and more. I hope they communed with God and figured out what life is really all about.

Because it's no more news than Britney shaving her head.

Wow. You're not even impressed that we just found out what humans are even more capable of doing?

What the hell does it take to get your dick hard? Geez.

I'm interested in what humans are capable of doing IF it is for the good of humanity. What good is this to anyone but those who did it? It's not even entertainment for the rest of us.

What you're saying is simple to understand. I agree that this shouldn't be breaking news or whatever and that there are more important issues.
However, there should be some acknowledgment to some extent for this conquered feat. I'm not saying we should talk about for even the next couple days, but at least know that this was done and a great deal of effort was required.

Also, I think this accomplishment does contribute a tiny bit to the good of humanity for medical research purposes.

You're up against Matt Damon on this one. Do you really think that you are intellectually superior to this man? If he thinks its entertainment, who am I to disagree with him?

Aren't women slowly evolving to be better long distance runners than men? I'll bet some super fembot will beat the record some day.

If they were followed with a camera crew (which I'm sure they were, since how else would they be able to relive their glorious accomplishment over and over in the masturbatoriums of their mansions without paying for a professionally produced documentary of their travails?), then maybe the films could be turned into a reality TV show that would be entertainment for millions.

Or it could be 160 times more boring than watching the Boston Marathon on TV.

With all due respect, PD, I think your opinion would've been completely different if these folks were not rich.

David, gimme a call when you run just ONE marathon in ONE day.

Fucking A right. If it were a couple of kids from Darfur who were running across the Sahara because there were men on horses with machetes chasing them, I'd be fucking impressed.

Not interested. Don't have time.