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Right now, Kelsey Pfendler is out on the open ocean, trying to become the first American woman (and the youngest + fastest) to solo row the Mid-Pacific.
Typically, the route runs from Monterey, CA, to either Hanalei Bay or Honolulu, a distance of roughly 2,000+ nautical miles (depending on how much one gets knocked off course).
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Only two other women have accomplished this feat. The fastest, Lia Ditton, did it in 86 days. Pfender is currently on Day 9. And as of 5 pm this afternoon, she has traveled 327 nautical miles so far.
Her tracker estimates that she will arrive in Hawaii on August 28th.
I’ve always wondered what it is that spurs people into taking on tasks like this. Is it just something different in their brain chemistry? Is it a latent ability to turn a journey of 2,000+ miles into digestible chunks of distance and time? A talent for being able to ignore discomfort and focus purely on the light at the end of the tunnel?
Every now and then, I find myself tuning into the History Channel’s survivalist competition show Alone, watching people who’ve willingly isolated themselves out in the subarctic wilderness huddle in makeshift shelters, collecting food in the most rudimentary ways imaginable, and trying to avoid predators, while the voice of Ned Stark echoes in my head.
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“Why would anyone sign up for this?” I say to myself, as I contort my body into just the right angle for me to flick a particularly large food crumb from my chest into the trash can.
Impressive display of physical and intellectual powers aside, I think this neglects a question that’s almost as good: why would anyone watch this?
It’s days upon days of watching people making minor improvements against a tide of self-imposed difficulties, while they try to avoid committing/falling prey to a competition-ending mistake.
And yet, I know that if there were a live camera of Pfendler’s journey, I’d be checking it at least a couple of times a day, just out of sheer morbid curiosity.
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How do I know this? Because I’ve been writing about the Spurs for years now, from the last season of playoff berths…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/learned-spurs-game-6-win-030606944.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-30 03:06:00
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