http://www.nytimes.com/...sports/25runner.html
For the past year and 10 months, Jesper Olsen ran across four continents and innumerable countries and regions, from the numbing cold of Siberia to the scorching heat of Australia, averaging 28 miles a day - or about two miles more than a marathon each day. Skip to next paragraph
Jodie Richter
Jesper Olsen ran 26,000 kilometers for two milestones. [/url]
His total exceeded 26,000 kilometers (the previous record was 23,000), or more than 16,000 miles. He went through 26 pairs of running shoes in the process. Olsen, 34, a wispy, blond, bespectacled Dane who is a political scientist with the University of Copenhagen when he is not in motion around the earth, was in Manhattan recently on the last, well, legs of his venture. It began in London, at the Greenwich Mean Time meridian, on Jan. 1, 2004, and ended at the same place Sunday.
All Olsen was pursuing was a line - actually, two - in the Guinness World Records. One was to run the longest distance ever, and the other was to run a lap around the earth.
"I've been a marathon runner and ultradistance runner for some time now, and thought it might be interesting to run farther than I've ever run before," Olsen said when he was passing through New York on Oct. 9. "And while at it, why not try for a world record? It's a dream I've had for years."
It was plausible enough, probably, if your tastes tend in that direction. In Olsen's case, the direction was at first east, then southeast, north, northeast, west, southwest, and back again. Or, Belgium, France, Germany, etc., then Russia and Japan and Australia, etc.
He spent the past several months running up and down the United States and Canada - yes, around Central Park as well. But that was on his day off.
"The most difficult thing to do was take off the one day a month I've taken off," he said. "Your body begins to shut down, to relax. It takes a lot of effort to get the muscle memory back in order. The day after my rest is my hardest day on the road."
On his day off in Manhattan, he decided to remind his muscles, as well as his ligaments and cartilage, that they had a job to do: He ran 10 miles in Central Park.
Distance runners around the world tracked Olsen on his Web site, worldrun.org, and joined him for parts of his journey - running with him, feeding him and helping him with whatever he needed to continue his journey. He also had a few sponsors.
He had been warned by his friends that he might be beaten and robbed on his journey.
"Hasn't happened," he said. "I've had nothing but people encouraging me on. The world's a better place than some of us think."
As for his body, it was intact. When asked how he felt with about 10 days left, he said, "Tired."
"But some of that is knowing I'm almost finished," he added. "So I'm allowing myself to feel that way."
The rest of him - his feet, his shins, his back, his neck - were worn, but not worn out. He walked without limping, without hunching, without listing.
"I visited a grade school in a small town in Siberia," he said. "I had learned a little Russian and so could answer some of the questions the kids asked.
"One of them said, 'My friend and I were wondering, how many laps around the world are you doing?'
"I had to laugh. 'One,' I said. The boy turned to his friend behind him and said, 'He's only doing one.' "
----
Don't hold back
For the past year and 10 months, Jesper Olsen ran across four continents and innumerable countries and regions, from the numbing cold of Siberia to the scorching heat of Australia, averaging 28 miles a day - or about two miles more than a marathon each day. Skip to next paragraph
Jodie Richter Jesper Olsen ran 26,000 kilometers for two milestones. [/url]
His total exceeded 26,000 kilometers (the previous record was 23,000), or more than 16,000 miles. He went through 26 pairs of running shoes in the process. Olsen, 34, a wispy, blond, bespectacled Dane who is a political scientist with the University of Copenhagen when he is not in motion around the earth, was in Manhattan recently on the last, well, legs of his venture. It began in London, at the Greenwich Mean Time meridian, on Jan. 1, 2004, and ended at the same place Sunday.
All Olsen was pursuing was a line - actually, two - in the Guinness World Records. One was to run the longest distance ever, and the other was to run a lap around the earth.
"I've been a marathon runner and ultradistance runner for some time now, and thought it might be interesting to run farther than I've ever run before," Olsen said when he was passing through New York on Oct. 9. "And while at it, why not try for a world record? It's a dream I've had for years."
It was plausible enough, probably, if your tastes tend in that direction. In Olsen's case, the direction was at first east, then southeast, north, northeast, west, southwest, and back again. Or, Belgium, France, Germany, etc., then Russia and Japan and Australia, etc.
He spent the past several months running up and down the United States and Canada - yes, around Central Park as well. But that was on his day off.
"The most difficult thing to do was take off the one day a month I've taken off," he said. "Your body begins to shut down, to relax. It takes a lot of effort to get the muscle memory back in order. The day after my rest is my hardest day on the road."
On his day off in Manhattan, he decided to remind his muscles, as well as his ligaments and cartilage, that they had a job to do: He ran 10 miles in Central Park.
Distance runners around the world tracked Olsen on his Web site, worldrun.org, and joined him for parts of his journey - running with him, feeding him and helping him with whatever he needed to continue his journey. He also had a few sponsors.
He had been warned by his friends that he might be beaten and robbed on his journey.
"Hasn't happened," he said. "I've had nothing but people encouraging me on. The world's a better place than some of us think."
As for his body, it was intact. When asked how he felt with about 10 days left, he said, "Tired."
"But some of that is knowing I'm almost finished," he added. "So I'm allowing myself to feel that way."
The rest of him - his feet, his shins, his back, his neck - were worn, but not worn out. He walked without limping, without hunching, without listing.
"I visited a grade school in a small town in Siberia," he said. "I had learned a little Russian and so could answer some of the questions the kids asked.
"One of them said, 'My friend and I were wondering, how many laps around the world are you doing?'
"I had to laugh. 'One,' I said. The boy turned to his friend behind him and said, 'He's only doing one.' "
----
Don't hold back
