I Am The First Man To Run Around The Globe

Australia, Jesper Olsen, runner, World, run

The hot Aussie weather didn't exactly help Jesper, but he met nice people over there.

I was thrilled by the prospect of becoming the first human being to run around the globe and I knew it was the right time for me to do it.

Jesper Olsen

Date Posted: 06/27/06

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On Oct. 23 2005, Jesper Olsen, a Danish long distance runner, crossed the finish line at the Observatory in Greenwich, England. After 661 days and 26,232 kilometers of challenges and adventures Jesper became the first human to successfully complete a run around the world.

As a long distance runner myself, an adventurer and published photojournalist, I had the opportunity to meet and accompany Jesper for sixteen days along the California Coast and on his last day in the US. That's where I learned about Jesper the human being as well as the runner.

In a world where being number one seems to be everything, Jesper's feat earned him a place in the "Guinness-Book" of World Records.

Here is his story.

I didn't wake up one morning thinking "I am going to run around the world". I thought about it for a long time, carefully considering and planning every phase.

But you'd think that was what I did. The critical reaction was swift and negative. You'd think no one had ever run around the world before.

In fact, no one had. But I was just the guy to do it. I started running when I was 15 years old. What happened to be just a physical activity soon became one of my passions in life. Based on the headline above this story, you can tell I love challenges, but by the time I reached 29, on the threshold of my 3rd decade, finding running-related exciting goals was becoming very difficult. Almost anything imaginable had been done, such as continent-crossings on foot in the U.S., Australia and Europe. There's even a 400-pound man who just finished walking from California to New York.

After that, what's left? I asked myself. Well, how about running around the world? Over the past few years several runners had attempted to run around the world, but all of them either failed or were caught cheating, like a guy I read about who took a train, thinking he could fool the public.

I was thrilled by the prospect of becoming the first human being to run around the globe and I knew it was the right time for me to do it. My career and studies as a political scientist at the Copenhagen University were only at a beginning stage and a leave of absence wouldn't be too difficult to get. So, in 2002 I made up my mind to run around the world. And here it is, Oct. 21, 2005. It's been a long run.

It started well.