Originally posted by Sauron the White
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There is no foundation for ultra-marathon running in any account of the rest of the Dwarves in any of the books.
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STW, is there any foundation for ultra-marathon running by Aragorn or Legolas? Neither of them were trained specifically as distance runners, were they? Why is it more reasonable that they, but not Gimli, could do this long run?
As already discussed, Tolkien described dwarves as having great stamina and being very tough. I assume Tolkien meant this description relative to other races of Middle Earth (like men or elves). And I like to think Gimli's stamina and toughness was particularly high, even compared to other dwarves. So for me, it seems ok (and somewhat supported by the text) that
if Aragorn and Legolas could make this run, so could Gimli. It probably hurt a lot, and he was terribly sore, awful chafing in the worst places, etc.
To be clear: I acknowledge that by real world standards, none of them had the right physical training for a sudden 3-day ultra-marathon. But if Aragorn and Legolas could make this run, then I think Tolkien's description of dwarf endurance gives us at least some reason to believe Gimli could do it to.
He probably would have had a hard time keeping up simply due to his shorter legs. But if they covered 45 miles per day for 3 days, and ran for 16 hours per day, they would need an average pace of 2.8 miles per hour. That isn't much faster than a brisk walk. Do I have my numbers wrong?