ISU professor prepares for 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days
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POCATELLO — Seven marathons. Seven continents. Seven consecutive days.
That’s what awaits Shawn Bearden next January. The Idaho State University professor is taking on the World Marathon Challenge, a grueling event where athletes run seven marathons on each of the Earth’s seven continents within one week.
Starting at the world’s end at Novo, Antarctica, Bearden and a handful of other competitors will then travel to Cape Town, South Africa; Perth, Australia; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Madrid, Spain; Barranquilla, Colombia; and Miami, Florida.
At each stop, the competitors will run 26.2 miles before boarding a charter plane for the next continent.
Stigma
The World Marathon Challenge has been held since 2015 and draws a small handful of athletes from around the world each year. Just making it through the seven days is enough to secure lifetime bragging rights.
But Bearden isn’t competing for glory — he’s trying to raise awareness and end the stigma associated with depression, an illness he has battled his entire life.
Bearden, who serves as a professor of exercise science at ISU, said that on the surface, he always appeared to be a hard-working, driven, joke-telling and jovial academic.
But deep down inside, he has always dealt with sadness and despair.
“It’s affected me my whole life,” he said. “It got to a point a few years ago that if I hadn’t told me wife, I would have committed suicide.”
When he finally told his wife a few years ago, it was the first time he had ever openly spoken about his struggle with depression. Afterwards, he attended therapy and rehab to develop healthy coping skills to deal with his illness.
Since then, he says he has been much happier and wants to use his experience to tell others who also suffer from depression to tell somebody and get help.
“There’s a stigma that exists with depression that has to go away,” he said. “Nobody should be ashamed of it or hide it.”
Therapy
“Running for me is the core of my therapy,” Bearden said.
A lifelong athlete, Bearden is an avid trail runner who regularly logs 70 to 100 miles each week. He has participated in a variety of races including 10 ultra-marathons, winning one and coming in second place in another.
Ultra-marathons are long-distance footraces that continue for up to 50 or 100 miles. This year alone, he plans on competing in five ultra-marathon races.
He also hosts “Science of Ultra,” a podcast where he interviews the world’s leading scientists, coaches and athletes on ultra-marathons and racing in general.
With a doctorate in exercise philosophy, he said his knowledge of nutrition and science will serve him well during his seven-day globetrotting running adventure. He’s going to need it.
Hot and Cold
Hong Kong resident David Gething won the inaugural World Marathon Challenge in 2015. His interview with an Asian newspaper speaks volumes about the obstacles facing Bearden and the other competitors at the first marathon in Antarctica.
“Part of my toes are lost to frost bite, all the tendons in my feet are gone. My kneecaps are aching and it will take a few days’ rest before I can start to feel normal again,” Gething told the South China Morning Post after his victory.
Bearden admits that staying warm while running the four-loop course near Union Glacier is going to be a challenge. But the conditions won’t get any easier once the competitors travel to the other continents.
“The biggest challenge is managing rest and sleep, which is not an easy thing to do in this challenge,” Bearden said. “Due to the changing time zones, my internal clock is going to be out of whack.”
While running in subzero Antarctic temperatures will be difficult enough, he’ll be running in Dubai a few days later, where the temperatures can reach well above 100 degrees.
There also won’t be much time for sightseeing.
“We’ll have a little time for a shower and food at each place, but only for a couple of hours,” he said. “Then it’s onto the next continent.”
Money
If anything is going to stop Bearden from accomplishing his round-the-world run, it will be funds.
It costs $38,000 to compete in the World Marathon Challenge. As he raises money for the cost of the trip, a portion of the funds raised will go to iFred, the International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression. Bearded will run in the event as an ambassador for the charity.
To support Bearden’s efforts to end the stigma of depression, please visit GoFundMe.com/worldmarathons. As of Saturday evening, he has raised more than $3,000.
This article was originally published in the Idaho State Journal. It is used here with permission.