Run Around World Tries a Man's Soles
By IRA BERKOW
Published: October 25, 2005

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.

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.' "

source: (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/sports/othersports/25runner.html?adxnnl=1&adxn\
nlx=1130274111-WHNLYzM63F6buhCoxyXqNw