THROUGH DEATH VALLEY IN 129-DEGREE HEAT

A GUY IN A DARTH VADER
SUIT RAN ACROSS DEATH VALLEY

http://io9.com - This past June 30th, as part of the Darth Valley Challenge - an insane annual event where people run through Death Valley in their favorite Star Wars costume - Jonathan Rice ran a mile in 6 minutes and 36 seconds. It was 129 degrees at the time, so that might actually be a world record! For the past four years, Rice and his friends have gotten together in their Star Wars regalia and made “a completely pointless” mad dash from from the Badwater Junction to Furnace Creek Ranch.
But this year's run was unique in that the National Weather service recorded a temperature of 129 degrees (53 Celsius) at precisely 4:00 p.m. - the exact time that he ran the mile.

Rice hopes that Guinness World Records will recognize it as the hottest verified run. Now, it's starting to draw a crowd. In addition to Greenfield's Leia, a handful of other runners and fans show up as R2-D2, Yoda or some other denizen of a galaxy far, far away. This year's support driver even dressed as the hairy Chewbacca - a costume that works only when you're sitting in the air-conditioned car.
If it sounds crazy, Rice would agree. His own website warns imitators that they do so at their own risk, and those risks include dehydration, heatstroke, heart attack, “death, death, more death and getting a purple face.” “This is a ludicrously dangerous endeavor,” he warns on the website. “I don't support you doing it. I don't even really support me doing it.”

Running around in Death Valley's 129-degree heat is peculiar in its own right, but doing it dressed up as Darth Vader is sheer lunacy. Jonathan Rice, a 'Star Wars' series fan, has been heat running in California's Death Valley since 1996 as an endurance test. Now he decided to add the heat-attracting black Star Wars costume to heighten the challenge and the chance of danger. Heat running, also known as hot weather running, can result in a bevy of health concerns including dehydration, heatstroke, and cardiovascular risks like a heart attack. Our human life is very valuable, and it is not advisable to put our health in such threatening risks only to test the limits of physical endurance.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Good skiers can go down a mountain at the same speed of an automobile on a highway. Falling down a mountain at such a rapid pace is certainly exhilarating, but there is an inherent risk involved. Just one small slip up, one mistake, and you can be part of a serious accident. ... We have no control over the events of nature, but how do people react to these near-death experiences if they do occur? Do they give up skiing as a result? Do they give up snowboarding? On the contrary, people still take to these dangerous activities knowing full well the risks that are involved. ... Why does this happen? Why do we repeatedly perform activities that we know are bad for us? ... Harmful behavior can only be eradicated if we have a higher engagement. ... Devotional service is a full-time engagement which involves dovetailing all our activities for the benefit of the Supreme Lord Shri Krishna, or God.

Krishna'sMercy.org - Jai Shri Krishna :
“Dangerous Behavior” - Posted on July 17, 2010
http://www.krishnasmercy.org/dotnetnuke/
http://krishnasmercy.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/dangerous-behavior/

 

Published by dasavatara das - “Vedic Views on World News”
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/