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Comment by Shrezzing | Hacker News Reader

> The world relentlessly marches forward. However, I've learned human resilience is AMAZING. You'll be surprised at what you are capable of when life asks for it.

What I'm about to say obviously pales in comparison to raising a child with autism, but entering an ultramarathon/triathalon is a quite good way to experience something like this first hand in a safe environment. The amount a human can actually "go through" when it's asked of them is entirely remarkable.

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A friend of mine ran a marathon with 0 training in large part to spite me for laughing at him for saying he would.

Not as extreme as an ultra, but still an unimaginable feat for most people.

I wouldn’t have believed it if he didn’t wake me up to rub it in my face when he got back.

Most people in somewhat reasonable shape could "run" a marathon on zero training. They might take 7 hours and have some minor injuries by the end, but they could finish.

To add a personal anecdote, I once walked 25 miles in about 8-9 hours* with a heavy bag, and then showered & walked to work afterwards. I was kind of out of it, but definitely not falling-down-tired or anything like that.

*I severely misjudged the length of the trip before setting out, thought it was about 5-6 miles.

It must have been a nice day out.

Wow. Could they walk the next day? That's seriously impressive.

I'd say if you're under age 40 it should be possible unless you're in really poor shape but then again that shouldn't be a problem to get in shape.

As you get older recovery time is an issue it takes a long time to get over hard workout unless you've always done it but even so it's still not like when younger.

I used to attempt things like that too (long races or tough mudders with little to no training). After doing my third tough mudder and getting injured I realized it's just stupid and a great way to cause a serious, possibly life enduring, injury.

Yes! This is so true and requires much of the same skill set.

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