Teacher running around Europe -- really running

SEMINOLE -- On her first trip to Europe, Barbara Frye is seeing the Eiffel Tower, magnificent palaces and what's left of the Berlin Wall as she races across the continent.

Always in a hurry, the Seminole resident is running from place to place. Oh, she's got time, 64 days' worth. But she will spend most of it running. Fifty miles a day. Literally running. As in feet to the pavement, pounding out mile after mile each day for eight hours or more.

Think of it as two marathons a day with a lunch break. It's the equivalent of a race from Los Angeles to New York City.

Frye is one of 49 ultrarunners participating in the first-ever TransEurope FootRace, a 3,200-mile run that started Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal, and ends June 21 in Moscow. Fifty-kilometer (31-mile) races generally are considered the shortest ultras. Fifty-mile races, nearly twice the length of the standard marathon, and 100-mile races are popular distances.

"I just really love to run," said Frye, 48, an associate professor of literacy at the University of South Florida in Tampa who has been a runner since she was a child.

The TransEurope runners, mainly Europeans, will pass through Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Belarus. Frye and only one other American, 65-year-old Donald Charles Winkley of Texas, are entered.

Their daily agenda for the next two months: Run, eat, sleep, run, eat, sleep, run, eat, sleep, run.

"It's a big undertaking," Frye said last week.

Don Allison, publisher of UltraRunning magazine, said people run long distances because they can.

"It's like anything in life," he said from his office in Weymouth, Mass. "You build up to it. Certain people have a genetic capability to cover a lot of distance. And this is the ultimate kick. ... Wow, running across Europe."

Frye ran track in high school and has completed dozens of ultraruns. In 2001, over the course of four months, she became the first American woman to finish six 100-mile trail races, part of the Last Great Race series.

While that was a significant personal achievement, Frye looks at this endeavor differently. She is running as a member of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program, which supports athletes' training for running, cycling and triathlon events, and in turn, the athletes raise money for the society.

"This time I'm running for something besides myself," she said.-To follow Barbara Frye's progress, check out www.transeuropalauf.de/english/index.php.

Uber foot race

-- What she'll eat: potatoes, pasta, rice and other foods rich in carbohydrates

-- Where she'll sleep: in tents, gyms and civic centers

-- How many pairs of running shoes: 10

-- Who else will run: mainly Europeans older than 40

What runners will get

-- Breakfast and evening meals

-- Food and drinks during daily runs

-- Certificate

-- Event T-shirt

-- A lot of respect

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