“I am happy,” Kaneenika tells me this morning.
It is hard to imagine that it is even remotely possible for Kaneenika to be happy and yet she is. She starts once again another hot and brutal day pounding along a Queens NYC sidewalk with 59 hard miles still ahead of her. Yet in the whispering moments before midnight she will have reached her goal and run 3100 miles here once again.
I make a statement that I wonder how she will respond. That the race asks of the runners more than they can imagine and yet gives back more than they could ever dream. “Yes, I think that is a very true statement, and I think this race proved it to me more than any race I have run before.”
“I have had hard races even before I started running the 3100, but maybe because this one is so long. I really wanted to finish. This race was pretty hard.”
Kaneenika had told me that she had been working on staying happy and says that like in all things, “there is always room for improvement for everything in life.”
“What I have received from this is that I feel closer to my source. With each step I feel as though I was getting closer and closer. Yesterday it was so hot and humid, and I was trying to push so that I could finish.”
“But there was a part of the day when I felt like there was nothing left in me. So I felt that the Supreme was trying to show me that this race is not about the physical. It is actually more than 100% the Supreme’s grace that we are able to do this race.”
“This morning I had 106 laps to go. I have just done 6 so there is just 100 more to go. Today though I can really see the finish line. Yesterday was really hard for me. It wasn’t that I was doubting that I would make it but it was certainly hard for me to imagine it. To run 2 more days in conditions like this, and really having to push.”
“It is all the Supreme’s grace.”
The Board at the Start of Day 52….*Note the totals may not be accurate…Magic number is 3,039*
The light still shines
Camp early
Vajra celebrates with a cold one
William arrives
Time passes
Surasa arrives
Konstantin makes ice bags
Vajra works on Vasu
Rupantar’s final vide
Kaneenika is here
Pan to the right
Smarana comes
The girls
Ananda-Lahari and William
Nearly time
Start of Day 52
Hot and humid
Bright sky
Surasa ran 57 miles
She has 3059 miles
A message from home
A little foot issue
Skin treatment for a hot sun
It is not about the numbers
A very good morning
Finish at 6 pm
Flower
Camp
Vajra and Vladamir
Sopan did 59 miles
He has 3044 miles
He will finish tonight
Flower
Counters
Vasu and Vajra
Kaneenika ran 59 miles
She has run 3041 miles
With Leelavatee
A great accomplishment
Flower
Visitors from afar, Nipura and Uddipan
William did 50 miles
He now has 2884 miles
One last joke to tell
A coveted ward given
Will stay on the course till midnight
Green
Familiar faces
Smarana did 31 miles
He has 2853 miles
The long long journey
Flower
Ananda-Lahari ran 59 miles
He has 2815 miles
Here till midnight
Flower
Swamiji
The very end Day 52
3 celebrations tonight
All gratitude to the cooks
Flower
“Please tell me you will come back again tomorrow”
Today’s poem read by Vandya
Click to Play:
Enthusiasm-Awakeners
Click to Play:
When my mind and I smile,
God comes closer and closer
To us.
Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 30, Agni Press, 2002
‘That the race asks of the runners more than they can imagine and yet gives back more than they could ever dream’…. What nice words. Thanks Utpal, as always.
Gratitude always, Utpal for your ongoing selfless service to this immortal race. I’m sure many appreciated this year seeing the journalist in front of the camera on each daily video as well. We are grateful for this “perfection journey”- a special way of keeping us in touch from all around our oneness world.
Super job Uptal. Thanks again.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Utpal – for leading us through this unimaginable race with such detailed, ingrowing & touching reports: inspiring to the core – every single day!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! What an amazing and unique race! Words cannot describe what we propably all feel: Gratitude infinite to the runners and everybody, everybody, everybody involved!!
Great job Utpal. Thanks a lot.
Thank you Utpal, thank you runners, thank you to all the helpers – thank you from my deepest heart. I don’t want to repeat Tirthas words – but I really feel the same.
Congratulations Utpal for all your work. Reports were so special, with so much concern for runners and helpers. Your comments while you were writing the number of the day were so true and appropriate, given with all your heart.
Thanks so, so much. Watching your videos every day I was in New York with all of you, feeling the very part of the Race.
Gratitude
Utpal, following your blog every day was very inspiring and illumining part of last 52 days. Thank you very, very much for your tremendous dedication and Service. Through your blog we felt connected to the Race. Great Job! Please continue!
Imagine a chorus of voices singing Sri Chinmoy’s song “My Own Gratitude Heart Is All That Matters” ringing in your ears and whispering in your heart. This blog offers a window into the race that integrates its consciousness into us, the countless readers here and gives us all the opportunity to ask the ponderous question, “how can I conquer my own version of 3100 impossibility relying on grace and sincere personal effort?”
Dear Utpal, from the depth of my heart, I thank you! You are running your own 3100 mile race with this blog :)! Every year you add something new, improve on something, it´s unbelievable! I have gone through some of your oldest blogs on 3100 that are available to public – what a progress! Truly remarkable! And to approach tired runners that are not always eager to speak in the morning… it´s challenging! Your animal jokes should honestly be published in a book :)! And yes, you really transform people´s lives by bringing the message of 3100 mile race to the fore, to our lives, our summer days :)! Thank you again, for your dedication, your self-giving, selflessness, enthusiasm, your love of 3100 and self-transcendence!
In lack of words…thank-you.
I downloaded a few of the squirrel pictures and your funny comments. They brought a spontaneous smile, which is precious!
Gratitude again and again! When we start missing these amazing reports, we can go back and listen to those illumining interviews– as Sharani says, fuel for our own self-transcendence journey that continues and continues! Thank you, thank you!
Thank you so much for your blog, Utpal! The message-light of 3100 mile race helps in our own inner and outer lives tremendously!