Calum Ramm, a captain in the Marine Corps, has run many marathons in his day, but last week he set out on a far bigger challenge: running seven marathons on seven continents in just seven days as part of the World Marathon Challenge. Starting off deep in Antarctica on Jan. 23, he went on to complete marathons in Chile, Miami, Madrid, Morocco and Dubai before the finale in Sydney, Australia, on Friday. Only 15 athletes took part; those who finished ran 183.4 miles through snow, mountains, tropical heat and city streets.
Captain Ramm, from Lansing, Mich., is running to raise money for a charity, the Semper Fi Fund. and is a member of the official Marine Corps running team. Here are some of his thoughts about his experience:
Running in Antarctica was actually a lot easier than I thought. It was a four-lap course, and if I closed my eyes it was almost as if I was running in Michigan during a long winter in my high school days. I only had a base layer and jacket on,
plus the normal hat / gloves / balaclava, and still overheated at times. Because the sky was the same hue as the snow, it was difficult to see anything more than white — and beyond it, the outline
of mountains. A thin slice of blue sky off the horizon was the only thing that kept me from losing all orientation.
Chile was way easier, but the wind was brutal. Almost had me moving backwards at some points. I went out really slow, but dropped some serious splits on the last eight miles. Felt really good upon finishing, almost better than Antarctica. The footing was obviously better so that helped.
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