Dean Karnazes has come a long way since he hit a midlife crisis and had an epiphany at the bottom of a tequila bottle.

Train as hard as you like for the six-day Marathon des Sables in the Sahara but nothing will quite prepare you for the challenge. 97 Litres of disinfectant used, 3,700 Painkillers taken

Constant daylight and -29C temperatures greeted competitors at the top of the world.

The North Face Endurance athlete Dean Karnazes will attempt to complete the world's five major desert foot races in a single calendar year. The North Face Desert Grand Slam spans the driest, hottest, coldest and windiest places on earth in some of the most grueling footraces imaginable.

"I was running and thinking about my family and my retirement, which is in one year," he said. "I became interested in doing something more with my runs, so I decided to run for charity."

Instead of producing a Runner's World clone, Rodale has put its emphasis into making the magazine a leader for the competitive, "front-of-the pack" runner. To that end, Running Times has undergone a complete redesign that will be unveiled with the May issue.

Jeff Arricale has watched two of his four children struggle to breathe because of a lung disease. He never will experience their daily battle, but he is going to find out what it's like to gasp for air.

Thirteen straight wins for the Kenyans in the Azalea Trail Run. As the U.S. has been a distant second, most years, it appears this year will be no different. They have the will, but don't have the willing contestants this year.

So far Wilson, 34, has raised more than $110,000 for the Sydney Children's Hospital Foundation emergency department. The money goes toward such things as employing specialists to treat patients like Daniel, who was rushed to hospital on Wednesday after he slipped on tiles and broke his right arm.

The second annual Vasque North American Trail Tour (NATT), a trail running series with venues throughout the United States and western Canada, is set to begin, and this year promises to be even bigger and better than last.

This summer, La Sportiva Mountain Running® Team Member, Karl Meltzer is planning on breaking the current speed record on the AT, which stands at 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes.

A 71-year-old woman in Saitama Prefecture will run the Marathon Des Sables ultramarathon, one of the world's most grueling sporting challenges, becoming this year's oldest runner and the oldest Japanese ever.

You now have the recipe for the race that former William's College cross country skier, Nikki Kimball, just won. In hard, quantitative measures the Tour du Mont Blanc is just as dauntingâ€"2,200 racers, a distance of 101 miles, 8,900m of ascent and descent,

Connecting the spiritual part of running with the memory of the American soldiers who have fallen during the conflict in Iraq. Over the course of the past five years America has been involved in an ever-growing conflict inside Iraq.

The first race of the ultra-running challenge hoofs it into the hills next weekend. The Wuthering Hike, a 32 miler (51km) runs from the Bronte village of Haworth in West Yorkshire, over the supposed site of Wuthering Heights