Deciding which of Casey Snyder’s accomplishments is the most impressive, the most inspirational is an exercise in futility, or at very least, a matter of opinion.
Snyder recently joined an extremely small group of extreme athletes by completing a challenge that took place over the course of seven consecutive days – a challenge most might think to be impossible.
His other achievement also involves consecutive days – more than 4,000 of them – and he’s still going.
We’ll explain the details of each feat in a moment, but it should first be noted that the most impressive thing about Snyder may just be his motivation behind everything. He does it all as an example for his 9-year-old son Brady, to show him that nothing is impossible.
So, those accomplishments.
First up, the seven-day challenge. No big deal – just seven marathons – in a row – on seven consecutive days.
Oh, and did we mention, on SEVEN CONTINENTS?
Yes, let’s put that all together now – seven days, seven marathons on seven continents. Yes, we mean all seven continents, and yes that includes Antarctica.
Snyder described what arriving in Antarctica was like after a six-hour flight there aboard a Russian cargo jet, crammed in with 59 other runners, race support staff and all their gear, after leaving their base in Cape Town South Africa
“It’s surreal,” Snyder said. “It’s just vast – just nothing. You land, and there’s no windows on the plane, because it’s a cargo jet. So you literally don’t see anything. The doors open. You get off and you’re there.”
Once they were off the plane, Snyder said they had just two hours to get acclimated to the ice world of Antarctica before they were off and running, literally.
“There’s a couple tents that are set up, and there’ s a main tent and you get changed and you’re there to run,” he said.
It was cold, he said, but it wasn’t too extreme. The race was held in January, which is summer for Antarctica and Snyder said the temperatures in the sunlight during the race hovered right around the freezing mark.
Layered clothing kept him warm enough to race, but he said the bigger problem was the sun glare.
“They didn’t recommend taking the goggles off for more than five minutes,” he said. “You had to keep your goggles on at all times, because if you did take them off you were going to be snowblind.”
Snyder said the race was run on a loop of about 3.5 miles, which the runners traversed eight times to complete the race.
To put things in perspective, only a few hundred people get to visit the interior of Antarctica in any given year, and Snyder said the race alone brings about 80 people – 60 runners plus their support staff.
The Antarctica race was the first in the series called the World Marathon Challenge, and it was just the next logical endurance test for Snyder, since he had already run at least one marathon in all 50 states.
He actually learned about the world race from a friend he met during one of his 50-state runs, and felt it would be the perfect challenge for him.
“It was finding a goal and working towards it, that I think most would say is crazy, but then being able to accomplish it,” he said.
In the past, Snyder said he’s done two marathons back-to-back on consecutive days, or over a weekend, but nothing like the schedule of the World Marathon’s seven races in a row.
“It’s really all mindset,” he said. “You know going in that you’re going to take a beating, and it’s just do you have the mindset to do it.”
The seasoned runner said there’s no real way to train specifically for an event of this magnitude, or to simulate the demands it would take physically. In fact, advice he received from others who had done the race was to not overtrain, for fear of injury ahead of the event.
After Antarctica it was back to South Africa to run a race there, with only the few hours on the plane ride to rest. He said they landed in Cape Town at around 6 a.m. and by 9 a.m. they were starting the African marathon.
From there, the travel got a little more comfortable at least, as the race provided a private jet that would take them to each event.
Next up was Australia, then Asia, then Europe. Smooth sailing and easy peasy – just a total of five races in five days all around the world.
But then it was on to the Americas and things got rough.
“Brazil was brutal,” he said. It was summertime there. It was 90 degrees-plus with humidity. Not ideal at all for marathon running in general. Not to mention, it was the sixth marathon, so we’re already banged up.”
But after surviving that ordeal, he was now in the home stretch. Back home to North America with the final race in Miami, and the best part of the whole experience waiting.
Snyder said his girlfriend Ashley Shapiro arranged to have Brady waiting there to meet him as he approached the finish line in the final race.
“By far, that was the best feeling – to come around the finish line and he was right there,” he said.
Snyder, who is a Glassboro resident, was invited last month to a borough meeting where he was recognized by the mayor and council for his accomplishments. While at the meeting, Snyder found out that Assemblywoman Heather Simmons and Gloucester County Commissioner Jim Jefferson were also on hand to present him with state and county honors, respectively.
“It was a very pleasant surprise,” Snyder said. “I was absolutely overwhelmed and have a ton of gratitude. That was very, very kind of them.”
Now for the second part of Snyder’s impressiveness – the streak.
On Thanksgiving of 2013, Snyder said he and a friend were discussing overeating on the holiday and getting in shape. A friendly wager was placed to see who could go the longest number of consecutive days of running at least two miles each day.
“The holiday season turned into two years, turned into three years,” he said. “We would check in with each other daily to make sure each other did it.”
His friend pushed him for a little while, but ultimately Snyder won the bet.
“He called me at two in the morning,” he said. “He was so upset. He had fallen asleep.”
Even though the bet was done, Snyder wasn’t.
“I was a couple years in and said, ‘let’s see how long I can keep going,” he said. “Now it’s become part of who I am. Every dayI’ve got to do two. Some people make their bed, and I go run two miles.”
He’s now approaching 12 years straight – more than 4,200 days – without missing a single day of running at least two miles. That’s not to say there weren’t some days where the streak almost ended.
“There’s definitely been some close calls,” he said. “Right after the races around the world, I was beat up. My legs were done. That was probably the hardest. I was in rough shape.”
One situation in particular arose when Brady was being born. Snyder said they were already at the hospital but he said he knew Brady’s mother wasn’t supposed to go into labor until the next day.
So he said he waited until about 11:40 p.m., went outside the hospital and ran his two miles for that day, then as soon as the clock struck midnight, he ran for another two, so he could get it out of the way and be there for his son’s birth.
He said by necessity Brady is often with him on his runs, and he’s been there to witness some of the close calls, and also his dad’s commitment to achieving a goal.
“It’s those moments that it’s pretty exciting because I know they’re going to stay with him,” Snyder said.
Snyder said they have a simple motto around their household. It’s “Find a Way” and it sums up the message he has for his son and for anyone inspired by his story. He said his example shouldn’t necessarily be about running specifically, but rather just about commitment to a goal, whatever it may be.
“What can you do to push yourself just a little bit more, and what can you stick with?” he said. “Anybody can get motivated, but it’s discipline – that’s what’s going to make a difference in your life and that’s what I try to live by.”
As for his next challenge, it sounds like Snyder might be looking to log some more airline miles, along with more miles on the ground.
“There’s only been, from what I understand, a couple people that have run every country in the world, so that would be a bucket list item,” he said. That would be pretty neat.”