KOJO NNAMDIJoining me now is professional ultramarathon runner Mike Wardian, who is quite the celebrity in the running world, with several world records. He has completed some of the most difficult races in the world, but last week, he took on a challenge in his own backyard, quite literally. Mike Wardian, good to hear you. Thank you for joining me.

MICHAEL WARDIANOh, thank you so much for having me on.

NNAMDIYou are the newly crowned winner of the Quarantine Backyard Ultramarathon. Tell us about this race. How did it come about?

WARDIANYeah, it was a race that I just heard about maybe two weeks ago, or so. It took place, I believe, on April 4th, or so. And it was around 2,400 or 2,500 starters all over the world, people running, interestingly enough, in, like, their living rooms. Some people running on treadmills. Some people running around coffee shops. And other people, like me, I ran around my neighborhood. So, about 50 feet from, you know, my front door, I found a .04 mile loop.

WARDIANAnd the race is kind of interesting, and I don't know if your audience knows about it, but basically, you run 4.1666 miles every hour, on the hour, until there's just one person left. And so, every hour, you go 4.16 miles. At the end of 24 hours, you go 100 miles. And the last couple times the race has been run, the winners have usually been around 250 miles or so. So, I ended up going a little bit further than that. And, yeah, it was pretty incredible. It's the longest distance and the longest time that I've ever run continuous, without sleep.

NNAMDIThe first thing is, when you heard about it, you just heard about it a couple of weeks ago, how come you were ready? Because I know, Mike Wardian, you stay ready, because you never really stop running at all.

WARDIAN(laugh) Right. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of it. Yeah, I mean, I was getting ready for a bunch of spring races, so I had some good fitness. And even though the races have been canceled, I've been doing what's known as fastest known time. So, I've been running around some of the famous classic trails here in the D.C. area. Like, I set a fastest known time on the Billy Goat Trail. And then, about a week before the race, I ran all the 50 states streets in Washington, D.C. So, that was around 65, 70 miles. So, yeah, I've been keeping good fitness.

NNAMDIIf I understand this correctly, the rules of the race required to run 4.2 miles every hour, starting at the top of the hour. Your route was a loop around your block in Arlington that you ran 10 times every hour, on the hour, for 63 hours straight, with no sleep. Why did you pick that route?

WARDIAN(laugh) It as convenient.

NNAMDIClose to home.

WARDIANAnd it's pretty flat. Like, if any of your audience is Arlington, they know Arlington has got some decent-size, little hills. And so for me it was really flat, super convenient to my house for food and bathroom. And, also, everybody in the neighborhood's been a little bit bored. And so I figured it would be a good opportunity for them to have something to do for -- I didn't expect it to be as long as it was, but, yeah, for a couple days.

NNAMDIOh, let's just step out and watch Mike run around and around for several hours. (laugh) That would be really enjoyable. (laugh) Food. Food is a big part of ultramarathons. What did you eat during this race, and did it make any difference that the fuel stop was in your own kitchen, this time?

WARDIANYeah, actually, my wife and some friends set up kind of what's called an aid station. So, there were pizzas from Pupatella, the restaurant here. I had almond butter. I had honey sandwiches. I had sushi. I had soup. I had Engineered Nutrition, from my sponsors. So, yeah, so there was quite a bit of caloric consumption, (laugh) especially because you're not running super-fast. So, you know, you just have to keep moving.

WARDIANSo, you know, I was trying to get in as many calories as I could. And then, also, I was running outside so, you know, I had to deal with cold and heat. And, you know, so I ended up having some slurpies and popsicles. So, yeah, I mean, it was basically anything that I could get in that would stay down and keep me moving forward.

NNAMDITwo-thousand-four-hundred-and-thirteen runners from 65 countries started the race on April 4th. And, within 48 hours, all but one other runner who was in the Czech Republic had dropped out. You were declared the winner when the other runner was disqualified at the top of hour 63. You completed 262.52 miles in 63 hours. The world record is 68 hours and over 283 miles. Will we be celebrating Mike Wardian beating that record sometime soon? And why couldn't you beat it on this occasion?

WARDIANThat's a good question. Both questions are good. I would like to think that I could put myself in a position to go for the record. The tricky part about the race is that you can only go further than the last runner to drop out. So, when Radek -- the guy from the Czech Republic -- and I that were battling, when he was unable to continue, I was only allowed to go 4.2 miles further. So, although I wanted to keep going, the rules dictate that you have to stop.

WARDIANSo, it really takes a special day. It takes, you know, you having a special day, and then also somebody working together with you to be able to go for one of those records.

NNAMDIWell, we're just about out of time, but I do have to share that the trophy that Mike Wardian won, it was a golden toilet paper roll that you hopefully will be able to see a picture of on our website, kojoshow.org, sometime soon. Mike Wardian, always a pleasure. Thank you for joining us.

WARDIANHey, thank you very much for having me, guys.

NNAMDIThe segment on growing your own food in the age of the coronavirus was produced by Kayla Hewitt. And our conversation about activism during the pandemic was produced by Richard Cunningham. Coming up tomorrow, restaurants in the region have been shuttered for nearly a month now. So, how are employees and former employees faring? Plus, checking in on the state of local businesses. That all starts tomorrow, at noon. Until then, thank you for listening, and stay safe. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.