For January's "The Run for My Cure," Eric Hansen's inaugural Out of Bounds column, the Boulder, Colorado-based writer sought to do the impossible: Quit smoking.

But, writes Hansen, "What I needed, I realized, was not to quit something, but to start something. "So, I decided I would run."

His efforts would take him from the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, to the Nunavut Midnight Sun Marathon in Arctic Bay, Canada, 435 miles above the Arctic Circle.

Here, see exclusive images of Hansen's journey taken by photographer Chris Thompson and read more of Hansen's work for Outside.

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READ MORE OF HANSEN'S WORK:

It's Thriller Time
One man, one idiotic quest: to find El Mirador, a mysterious beachfront bar in a very remote and very dangerous part of Colombia. Who knew there would be complications?

I Poached the White Elephant
Witness now the first (we're pretty sure) harrowing (well, kinda) descent (albeit partial) of Mount Kilimanjaro on mini-skis. Hey, it's harder than you think.

Om Wrecker
Bodybuilder Peter Seamans, a.k.a. the Iron Yogi, has stepped onto the sticky mat with a rough, tough body-bending routine he's selling to the Crunch Fitness crowd. What the heck's happening to yoga?

Breaking All the Rules
At Walden Pond, they forbid inflatable pool toys. Sounds ripe for disobedience, don't you think?