To celebrate his safe return from Afghanistan, Army captain, Zack Keefer, ran 180 miles across the Outer Banks over the course of a week!  Amazing!…7 marathons in a row…day after day!  Not my idea of a celebration, but to each their own. 

Keefer is an ultramarathoner and Ironman triathlete who has run a variety of grueling races; an Ironman in Hawaii, the Sierra Nevada 100, and he’s training for Marathon des Sables, a 145 miles run across the Sahara desert!  Clearly an experienced runner, Keefer set out from the Northern beaches of the Outer Banks, where the road meets that sand, and ran to Emerald Island with only a 13 pound back pack containing 5 gallon jug of water, some MRE’s (army issued Meals Ready to Eat).  It’s about 50 miles from Currituck Beach Lighthouse to Bodie Island Lighthouse and about 100 miles to the ferry dock in Hatteras.

The run went well, and in 2012, when he completes his Army commitment, Keefer would like to make this a formal race; a few hundred runners pounding the sand from one end of the Outer Banks to the other.  (Keefer has reserved a website: www.obxultramarathon.com)