Cameraman to the rescue

Íslenska It was with some hope that your faithful reporter and cameraman, Suren, arrived at the scene of the 2 mile Self-Transcendence Tjarnarhlaup race last Tuesday, February 15. After all, the weather had calmed down and the ice had thawed out, making the running course somewhat less of a herculean task than last week. It came, therefore, as a great surprise to see that no runners had showed up for the race and frantic calls to well-known runners, none of which were met with an answer, assured the reporter that this attendance, or rather more non-attendance, would indeed be the case.

After a brief, yet inspiring, phone conversation with Ganagane, the organizer of the races, who was home with a cold, your faithful reporter saw only one fit course of action: He buckled up his utility bag, slung his tripod over his shoulders and walked the 2 mile Self-Transcendence race course, having set three race records by the time he finished: 1) Slowest finisher ever, 2) Fastest finish for a walker (none has ever attempted to walk the whole course so far), 3) Fastest finish for a walker with a backpack and a tripod (a record which is not likely to be broken in the foreseeable future).

The Self-Transcendence 2 mile Tjarnarhlaup races have been going on without interruption since September 7 (of course there was a break from November 30 to January 18, but this was a well-planned-out-before break) and your reporter was not about to let that tradition be broken; not on his shift.  Also, this was a most auspicious twentieth edition of the run.

This situation also brought to mind stories of Sri Chinmoy about spiritual men who have given lectures even in the face of non-attendance.

In some way, their action of service and your reporter's action of creating news for this site, somehow seemed to strike a chord.

The indespensible post-race photo was taken by a very kind English tourist who wished to remain anonymous.

Result (1-mile split time shown in brackets):

1. Suren 35:00 (17:00)