How far can you go? What is your limit? Are competing in an ultramarathon at age 70, sailing from Washington State to Alaska without a motor, swimming the English Channel at age 15, and running the Boston Marathon in reverse and then turning around to race it conventionally really terrible ideas? In The Unforgiving Hours, Shannon Hogan dives into the world of endurance sports by taking us on the journeys of unheralded athletes tackling extraordinary quests in creative ways, proving what is possible and attesting to the patient drive, mettle, adaptability, passion, humor, and grit that exists in all of us.

Through the stories of improbable athletic challenges--some well-known and some only passed around watering holes and campfires--Hogan brings to life tales of indomitable outdoorspeople who quietly "go long," and allows us to experience amazing feats of human endurance. Some of the adventurers you'll meet in the pages of The Unforgiving Hours include:

• Lynne Cox breaking the record for swimming across the English Channel at age 15
• Jeanne Goussev, along with teammate Kelly Danielson, leading the first all-woman sailing team to win the Race to Alaska
• Yuichiro Hidaka dreaming of eating potato chips while running the Boston Double for the fourth time
• John Stamstad voyaging to Alaska for an all-night February bike race in the bush of the Last Frontier
• Gunhild Swanson running the Western States 100 Endurance Run five days shy of her seventy-first birthday
• Gordon Wadsworth racing the hardest mountain bike race in the world while opting for only one bike gear
• Melissa Kegler training for two years to break the American Ice Mile Distance record in 39.2 F water
• Chris Jones embarking on The Last Great Race--six 100-mile ultramarathons to be completed over the course of one summer
• And Seana Hogan, the current cycling transcontinental female record holder (set at age 35) fighting the race clock and father time to finish Race Across America at age 60