Informant38

Buddhist marathon monk completes seven-year run
A few have done it twice; many more have not lived to finish. Traditionally, the monks, known as gyoja, who can't continue to the end must take their own lives either by hanging or disembowelment.
A rigorous regimen dictates that in each of the journey's first three years, the pilgrim must rise at midnight for 100 consecutive days to pray, run along a 30-kilometre trail around Mount Hiei - stopping 250 times to pray along the way. He can carry only candles, a prayer book and a sack of vegetarian food.
In the next two years, he has to extend his runs to 200 days.
In the winter, the pilgrim runner takes a break and spends the days doing temple chores.
� Sydney Morning Herald AU 09.20.03