Citing folk hero Terry Fox, distance runner Ryan Keeping is attempting to break the record for running around Iceland. The record breaking attempt will begin Sunday, September 7, at Hallgrímskirkja, in Reykjavík.
The Halifax native met with The Grapevine on Friday to discuss his preparation for the 1390 kilometre run, and his plans on breaking the 16 day, 10 hour record.
Regarding preparation for this current attempt, Ryan explained that he has not altered his training significantly: “Yeah, it’s kind of a constant prep, right? Okay, so it depends on what races I have coming up, but I’m always training for 100 milers or long races like that as well. So it’s kind of just a it’s a full-time thing.”
To the ever-important question of whether to travel the Ring Road clockwise or counter-clockwise, Ryan stated he will indeed travel clockwise. He explained “I asked ChatGPT, and it said to go that way first, so that’s what we’re doing.”
We concluded our discussion by remembering the runner and cancer activist Terry Fox, whom Ryan declared his “biggest hero.” He went on to say: “One of the reasons why I decided to run across Canada was because of Terry Fox, and I want people everywhere to know who he is.”
Catch our entire interview at our Youtube: