The Great Ganesha

Now this caught me completely by surprise. I’ve heard of people running through the freezing Arctic, through the Gobi desert, hell even doing an ultramarathon through Death Valley in July. But this is something else. Our very own Sunita Williams, astronaut desiordinaire, is going to run the Boston Marathon in space!

Sunita Williams, 41, a US Navy commander, will be tied to a treadmill to combat the effect of weightlessness.

She qualified for a place by finishing last year’s Houston Marathon in three hours 29 minutes and 57 seconds.

But she blasted off on board the Discovery space shuttle in December, prompting her decision to try to run the race in space on 16 April. [link]

Wow. I agree that qualifying for Boston is a unique honor, but girl, I’m sure they’ll defer your entry to next year!

The View From Up There

Methinks she just wants to continue breaking all those records that she’s so famous for breaking.

She has already broken the record for the length of time in space by a woman, and is poised to break the US record for continuous time in space before she returns home in the summer.

Ms Williams, though, is the first Boston marathon runner to attempt the course while orbiting 210 miles (338km) above the surface of the Earth. [link]

Talk about ambition. Well, she’s got her task cut out for her. It ain’t going to be easy.

Nasa has built a “vibration isolation system” to keep the space station steady as Ms Williams runs, but this places extra strain on the runner’s hips and shoulders.

“That harness gets hard on her back and her shoulders or her hips,” said the astronaut’s sister, Dina Pandya.

“Her foot was going numb because the strap was on her hip so much.”

And once Ms Williams finishes running she knows she will not have access to many of the home comforts available back on Earth.

“She mentioned the other day there’s no hot bath,” Ms Pandya said.

Well, good luck girl! You’re going to need it. Or not…

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