‘Run, eat, get on the plane, sleep. Repeat’: Glen Ellyn man completes globe-trotting World Marathon Challenge
Attacking a triangular running course laid out near the Ultima Base in Antarctica, white tundra as far as he could see, Lincoln Bode was blasted by a 20-mph wind.
That wind was at his back as the Glen Ellyn man finished his first event in the 777 Challenge. Also known as the World Marathon Challenge, runners compete in seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.
Bode thought about his father, Hank, who had suffered from Parkinson’s disease before his death almost exactly one year before. A recreational sailor, Hank Bode would use a wind like this to bring him back home.
His father came to mind again while Bode battled the 98-degree afternoon heat in Perth, Australia, the third event of the challenge.
“As I felt my legs getting tired and I was getting worn out, I would think quite often about the people who have Parkinson’s, like my father, and realize that although I wanted to just quit, they never had that chance,” said Bode, 63.
Though he accommodated his age and two hip replacements by running 13.1-mile half marathons, Bode persevered through each stop on the 777 Challenge from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6: Antarctica, Cape Town (Africa), Perth, Dubai (Asia), Madrid (Europe), and Fortaleza, Brazil (South America), before the North American finale in Miami.
“It went very, very well,” Bode said. “It was a combination of incredible venues from Antarctica to Dubai, amazing athletes from around the world, and, needless to say, an extreme physical challenge to be able to run back to back to back and be able to run those distances.”
A veteran runner whose specialty, multidiscipline “adventure racing,” has taken him to eight countries, Bode was most struck by Antarctica’s stark beauty.
When they landed there at 2:30 a.m. aboard a “no-frills” Russian plane built to withstand frigid temperatures and icy landings, the sun was still above the horizon. Mountains miles away looked like specks across the flat distance.
Subsequent flights to the other destinations were aboard luxurious 757 international charters with fully reclining seats geared to support tired runners.
“We basically would run, eat, get on the plane, sleep. Run, eat, get on the plane, sleep. Repeat,” Bode said.
Flying in from Brazil on the final leg, the 60 runners who participated in the 777 Challenge were surprised when the pilot announced it was 38 degrees in Miami. The announcement had them scrambling for their warm weather gear in plane stowage.
But chilly and wet Miami also provided one of Bode’s warmest experiences. Meeting him were his wife, Gail, his oldest brother, Mark, and his daughter, Amber, who ran with him the last 10 miles.
“It’s just like one big family at the end of that race,” Bode said. “Everybody’s hugging everybody, everybody’s done stuff that we never thought we could do. It was really neat to have Amber with me when we crossed the finish line.”
His daughter had run the social media accounts to support her father’s true goal by entering the 777 Challenge — raising money and awareness for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
Bode said the team.fox.777 Instagram account gained more than 1,000 followers and drew more than 2.7 million views.
Contributors to the Bodes’ Team Fox appeal have raised about $75,500 toward Bode’s symbolic goal of $77,700. He hopes to reach that total by the end of February.
Receiving his father’s permission to use the 777 Challenge as a fundraiser before Hank Bode died at 91 on Jan. 27, 2025, this last year has been “incredible,” Bode said.
“As you travel around the world,” he said, “we may have different nationalities, but we’re all human, we can all relate to each other, we all have a passion to have our loved ones healthy, and that does nothing but fuel my fire to raise funds to find a cure for Parkinson’s.”