Today at approximately 6.00am in Queens, New York, 12 runners lined up to begin the first day of a odyssey that will take them the best part of two months. They are competing in the 3100-Mile Self-Transcendence Race, the longest certified road race in the world. For eighteen hours a day, these runners circle a half-mile loop again and again, overcoming fatigue and bodily aches in their quest to finish this epic event. They typically cover over two marathons a day, with last year's winner Madhupran Wolfgang Schwerk averaging over 75 miles a day on his way to completing the distance in a record time of 41 days and 8 hours.

This is the 11th time this race has been run, and the participants have grown from only two in the inaugural race to 15 in last year's edition. They include Asprihanal Aalto from Helsinki, Finland, three time winner of the event, and Suprabha Beckjord from Washington DC, the sole female entrant and the only person to have run all ten previous races.

There is a blog for the race where you can catch up on the latest results and news...

Also you can watch video for opening day of race...

Articles and blog entries inspired by the race:

- Very nice blog entry on this year's race by Spirit Flower at Zaadz.
- Article on last year's race in the Guardian newspaper.
- Jim Larson on last years race at opinioneditorials.com
- Spiritual musings on the race from Berry at voxtropolis.com.