Comments on: Swimming the Amazon: 3,274 Miles on the World’s Deadliest River

By: Štefan

Štefan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:43:48 +0000

Hi everybody!

First I would like to say thanks to Tim for a great book. It can really change your life.

Second I come from Slovenia and I am very happy to see my fellow citizen appear on such a great blog. I am proud that a 2 million country has many great people like Martin:
– Jure Robi? – first human to win RAAM 4 times (http://www.jurerobic.net/index.php?id=71)
– Dušan Mravlje – won TRANSAMERICA ‘95 – 4800 km and about 100 other ultra-marathons (http://www.dusanmravlje.si/rezultati.html)
- Tomaž Humar – The World’s Best All-Around Climber (http://www.humar.com/pdf/whosthegreatest.pdf)

Tim, Martin and others alike should be referred to as role models for young people to fight depressions, laziness, boredom and MTV-like values

All Best,

Štefan

By: Jim C.

Jim C. — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:35:58 +0000

I enjoyed the article here––especially because I’d been prepped by reading the day-by-day, blow-by-blow, blog entries that appeared on BBC Mundo, in español. I did that reading because it was interesting to me, and because it helped me read things in Spanish. I learned some things about endurance by reading those entries––about doing what was intended even though it turned out to be harder than it was visualized to be. I’m about to embark on a trip, of sorts––the allopathic cure (attempt) for hepatitis C. The strong chemicals make some people feel pretty bad, and many just cack out. I want to make it to the end, do the whole thing. You gotta do what you gotta do,…or quit and never know how the trip would’ve gone, but know for sure that you quit.

By: Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:45:58 +0000

Hi Brian,

Though not religious myself, I think faith in something larger than oneself is a tremendous aid in sports performance. If you think God is on your side, as some fighters do, it’s a tremendous confidence boost, to say the least.

Best,

Tim

By: André Branco

André Branco — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:36:30 +0000

@Tim:

Just finished reading the book, and thought of bumping a comment back here.

Have you ever noticed a pattern of “spirituality” (I know you don’t like this word; neither do I) among the extreme athletes you happened to interview so far?

Martin Strel, Dean Karnazes, Roz Savage (very sweet lady, with whom I had the chance to talk to for several times), Alastair Humphreys — they all talk about God and energy and flow and running/rowing/swimming/biking for the greater good.

Do you believe this is a common trait among those ultramarathon guys? Do you think this causes/explains/helps their mental stamina in their endeavors? To what extent? Know of any counterexamples?

Grande abraço,
André

By: RachelB

RachelB — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:46:06 +0000

This is incredibly impressive. Thanks for posting it!