As a former runner and current poker player I found this story fascinating, and I think some of you all will as well.
Basically a high stakes poker player bet his friend he could run 70 miles in 24 hours on a treadmill. But wait! He didn’t even ask for even odds - he put up $900,000 against his friend’s $300,000. He ended up completing the task with an hour to spare and won the $300K. What an animal.
[quote]theuofh wrote:
70/24 = 2.91 miles/hour → 1/2.91 = .3436 hours/mile → .3436 hours*60 min/hour = ~20.616 min miles
The average walking pace of a human male is about 3.5 mph, so he could have walked it and won easily. [/quote]
This is exactly what I was thinking. I’m sure you’d be fucking tired, but shit with that much at stake I think pretty much any healthy male could do that.
[quote]theuofh wrote:
70/24 = 2.91 miles/hour → 1/2.91 = .3436 hours/mile → .3436 hours*60 min/hour = ~20.616 min miles
The average walking pace of a human male is about 3.5 mph, so he could have walked it and won easily. [/quote]
This is exactly what I was thinking. I’m sure you’d be fucking tired, but shit with that much at stake I think pretty much any healthy male could do that.[/quote]
You’re wrong. Fast walking 70 miles for the typical healthy male would just about kill them, if they had the fortitude to finish which the majority would not. Besides this guy had no sleep before he did it and I’m sure that’s what his betting partner was counting on.
Try to keep this in perspective. I’m not saying it can’t be done by others obviously it can. But think about a place that is 70 miles from your front door. A place that you’ve driven to numerous times. Now imagine walking out of your front door and walking at a reasonably fast clip until you arrive 70 miles from your front door to that place.
so less than 3 miles an hour, or 6 miles in two hours
i can pretty comfortably run 6 miles in around 50 minutes so for $300k i’d run 6 miles, rest for an hour, run another six, rest for an hour, etc… job done! (not easily of course but with that sort of $$$$ motivation!)
[quote]theuofh wrote:
70/24 = 2.91 miles/hour → 1/2.91 = .3436 hours/mile → .3436 hours*60 min/hour = ~20.616 min miles
The average walking pace of a human male is about 3.5 mph, so he could have walked it and won easily. [/quote]
You are forgetting a few things.
A) We don’t know what “shape” the winner of the bet was in. Was he an athlete or morbidly obese? That’s huge (no pun). If an obese guy wants to make such a bet, I’m more likely to accept. If he’s a regular runner or last year’s #1 Iron Man athlete, I’ll decline
B) Fatigue is NOT linear. The guy could’ve had energy for 30 miles then started cramping at the next mile and until mile number 50. We don’t know how fatigue built up for him, but we can assume that the marginal cost of the first 2.91 miles is NOT equal to the cost of the 20th segment
But yes, otherwise, your numbers look good, they just don’t tell the whole story. Numbers almost NEVER do.
Yeah there’s a ton of crazy, six-figure bets amongst those high-stakes guys. Of course, each side feels like they’ve got an edge and you always want to get your money in good.
That link mentioned E Lindgren golfing in that vegas heat, and I remember reading about Ted Forrest running a marathon in that same heat, and there’s always some ongoing prop bet over losing 100+ lbs, fun stuff with the nosebleed stakes…
LOL @ all these internet warriors claiming 70 miles in a day is easy because they know “tha mathz”…
70 miles is nearly 3 fucking MARATHONS…something that people spend months in preparation in which to run ONE…this guy was drinking with his poker buddies one night and decided to do it on no sleep…
the guy who made the bet was given THREE to ONE odds on his money…
LOL
This is still just cracking me up…
^^^This right here makes all the difference…it is astounding to me that this wasn’t considered by Drs. Archimedes and Pythagoras up there…i’d love to make some prop bets with some people in this thread…
[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
LOL @ all these internet warriors claiming 70 miles in a day is easy because they know “tha mathz”…
70 miles is nearly 3 fucking MARATHONS…something that people spend months in preparation in which to run ONE…this guy was drinking with his poker buddies one night and decided to do it on no sleep…
the guy who made the bet was given THREE to ONE odds on his money…
LOL
This is still just cracking me up…
^^^This right here makes all the difference…it is astounding to me that this wasn’t considered by Drs. Archimedes and Pythagoras up there…i’d love to make some prop bets with some people in this thread…
LOL
[/quote]
When that kind of money is on the line there is no quit in you. It was a sucker bet.
There are people who attempt 100 miles straight and most have the ambition to try and complete around or before 24 hours. Crazy shit, I have a friend that did one a few years back. He has the physique of a holocaust victim for the record.
There are people who attempt 100 miles straight and most have the ambition to try and complete around or before 24 hours. Crazy shit, I have a friend that did one a few years back. He has the physique of a holocaust victim for the record. [/quote]
this is true. I had a “friend” (guy i used to work with who was a friend of a friend) who was an insane runner. He would skinny as shit but could run 5 minute miles all day long. He actually ran from San Diego up to LA and back over a three day weekend. That is fucking nuts.
There are people who attempt 100 miles straight and most have the ambition to try and complete around or before 24 hours. Crazy shit, I have a friend that did one a few years back. He has the physique of a holocaust victim for the record. [/quote]
this is true. I had a “friend” (guy i used to work with who was a friend of a friend) who was an insane runner. He would skinny as shit but could run 5 minute miles all day long. He actually ran from San Diego up to LA and back over a three day weekend. That is fucking nuts.[/quote]