Students,
Here is the first homework of the school year. Read the article below and answer the questions on a seperate sheet of paper. It is due on Friday 10/4. I will not accept assignments after that. Ask me if you have any questions.
This article is courtesy of Sports Illustrated
OH, THE PLACES SHE'LL GO
Diana Nyad isn't the only woman pulling off seeming miracles of endurance. Meet Katie Spotz
By Kelli Anderson
Katie Spotz's endurance career started like many others': A self-proclaimed team-sports benchwarmer at Mentor (Ohio) High, she took a walking-running class when she was 18, then gradually added miles to her runs. After her first 10-miler, she set her sights on finishing a marathon and then an Ironman triathlon.
But after she completed that first marathon, in Columbus, Ohio, in 2005, Spotz began to focus on more extreme feats. Over the next six years she cycled across the United States twice; ran a 62-mile ultra-marathon in Australia; became the first person to swim the length of the Allegheny River-covering the 325 miles in a month-and was the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, traveling the 3,038 miles from Dakar, Senegal, to Georgetown, Guyana, in 70 days, five hours and 22 minutes. "I love how endurance tests your mind's power," says Spotz, 26. "In soccer I never faced the question, Can I keep going?"
Every adventure has tested her will in a different way, but her biggest challenge was the solo row, which Spotz had heard about while riding a bus in Australia. First she had to learn how to row, but training was only 20% of her two-year preparation. She raised $100,000 for expenses and stumped for Blue Planet Network, a charity focused on the planning and management of water and sanitation programs around the world. She had to learn celestial navigation, how to work a desalinator, how to repair everything on her 19-foot, sleep-cabin-equipped rowboat and how to keep her various electronics-including four iPods loaded with music, audiobooks and Spanish lessons-humming with solar power.
One hundred miles from the South American shore, she realized she wouldn't reach her intended destination in French Guiana without a tow, due to heavy currents. So she headed northwest to Georgetown, Guyana, which added 400 miles and eight days to her trip but allowed her to land under her own power. "At times I felt overwhelmed and wanted to quit," she says. "But you learn to say, 'Yes, I'm feeling this, but I don't need to act on it.' I try not to have can't in my vocabulary."
On Sept. 8, Spotz, who travels the speaking circuit and runs a charity called Schools for Water, which raises funds for school-based water projects in developing nations, finally got around to her first Ironman triathlon, finishing the Cedar Point Rev3 Tri in Sandusky, Ohio, in 10:48:19. She has no other grand adventure looming at the moment, but she's sure something will find her. "I'll keep doing ridiculous endurance things," she says. "It's in my blood."
Answer the following questions in complete sentences on a separate sheet of paper. It can be typed or handwritten. Late assignments will not be counted.
1) When and where did Katie complete here first marathon?
2) How many miles do you have to run to complete a marathon? Research this on your own, it is not in the article. Do not be confused with her mileage in the ultra-marathon.
3) Explain why Katie raises money through her journeys. What kind of charity is she in charge of?
4) What feat did she become the youngest person to accomplish? How long did it take?
5) Critical thinking question: Would you ever try any of these feats in your own life? If so, which challenge would you try to accomplish and why?
