At around 11 O’Clock, William and the other runners taking part in the Sri Chinmoy “Self Transcendence” race will take their first steps along a journey of 3,100 miles.

These days, words like ‘epic’ and ‘awesome’ are, to put it mildly, a little over used. However I feel totally justified in describing a foot race that runs for 3,100 miles as being an ‘epic journey’ and an ‘awesome challenge’ in every sense.

A little about the race, taken from Wikipedia :

“The Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race is the world’s longest certified footrace.In 1996 Sri Chinmoy created this event as a 2,700-mile (4,345 km) race. At the award ceremony that year he declared that the 1997 edition would be extended to 3,100 miles (4,989 km).

This multiday race is hosted by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and takes place in Queens, New York in the USA from June–August every year. The course is 3,100 miles (4,989 km) long. Runners negotiate 5649 laps of one extended city block in Jamaica, Queens – 164th Place to Abigail Adams (84th) Avenue to 168th Street to Grand Central Parkway – a distance of 0.5488 mile (883 m). The runners have 52 days in which to complete the distance – an average of 60.78 miles (97.82 km) every day.”

I will be doing my best to provide ongoing coverage here on William’s blog, for the entire length of the race, but due to the obviously massive timescale of the race, reports will be less frequent than in shorter races (!).

Much more to come,

Shaun

www.ULTRAfitnessTraining.com