Occasionally though some extraordinary opportunity arrives directly in front of our path that beggars nothing less than a full commitment of all our resources and every fiber of our being.  Perhaps makes us even plum the very depths of our soul, in such a way, that does not just challenge us but also transforms the very dimensions of our consciousness.  Bringing us ever so much closer to a summit that we all sooner or later must reach.

It is hard to imagine a singularly more difficult physical challenge than entering a multi day race.  A place where the hunger for motivation and miles is relentless.  Where our familiar mental companions, hesitation and doubt will team up with another adversary fatigue, and try and thwart and delay each new step forward on our journey.  Where time itself can envelop you in a fog of indifference and our ultimate destination dissolves into temporary obscurity.

Today for a group of runners in Flushing Meadow, their 10 or 6 days of extreme adversity has come to a grateful conclusion.  One measure of the true value of their experience is written in numbers beside their names on the mileage board.  Yet ultimately the inner rewards, the most important ones, are sheltered in deep safe and sacred places within each one who tied on shoes and stepped forward beyond the starting line.  A transformation has taken place that is possibly visible to others but one that can only be appreciated and treasured by the runner themselves, who heard the bell clang as the last hour struck and then could go no further.

What all have gained, from this great brave journey, we hope they can continue to use to make their own worlds, if not the world we all share, better.  And if the challenge of the race was not enough then come back once again to Flushing Meadow and race again with a family of like minded runners.  A place where the painful limitations of the human body are touched and illumined by the indisputable vastness of the heart within.

“Next time, I will have to do it all again.”  I had an opportunity to run with Sarah Barnett on one of her final laps.  Earlier she had said that she had hoped to complete 700 miles at the end of 10 days.  By noon today she was just within a heart beat of making it happen with 697 courageous miles.  Yet it is worth noting that she did transcend her previous best of 684 by 13 miles, and that she somehow unleashed a blistering last day effort of 74 miles that enabled her to be champion here for the first time.

I ask her how she was able to accomplish this feat.  “I think it is from being more experienced with the multi days.  I am trying to do a few through the year, but ultimately I realize that it is just grace.  because I don’t deserve to be here.  This morning I overslept very badly.  I literately had to get someone to drag me out of the tent.”

“If it weren’t for the helpers we simply wouldn’t achieve anything.  It is just a total team effort.  We all make mistakes.  We get some recognition but it is everyone. ”

“It is a total journey.  Everyone I have spoken to has their highs and lows.  You know by working in these races we are working through a few of our problems on a personal level.  Maybe it is a little bit of suffering but it really makes you look at your life.  It is not just a sport.  You are working out a lot of personal things too.”

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Dipali Cunningham was once again the champion of the 6 day event.  15 consecutive victories here for this 53 year old ageless Australian phenomena are more than enough proof of her capacity and how undeniably courageous her heart really is.  If one were just to look at the lap sheets they might be puzzled to see that she was only able to complete 56 miles on her last day.  What the numbers don’t reveal was just how sick she was in the last days, how little physical strength was left for her to give. On this day what she had to offer was more than enough.

“I met this guy and he became my soul brother.  I am so grateful to run with him.  I am very grateful.”  Vasu and Francesco have been almost constant running companions for the past few days.  In one of the inexplicable mysteries that takes place at these events all the time.  They are in different races and from different countries.  One from the Ukraine the other Italy, and yet they found inspiration and comfort in each others strides and strengths.  They spoke little in that time, not just because they shared little of a common language, but more so because that was not the most important part of the bond they forged.  It started with Vasu offering a simple invitation.  “Let’s go.” A communication that benefited and enriched them both on many levels and not just in miles.

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“Happiness, gratitude, and fulfillment.”  Nidhruvi’s race will stand out here this year, not just for her own personal experience, but for others as well as a real milestone in Multi day running.  It exemplifies perfectly the reality and the spirit of never giving up.  She has suffered through a 10 year drought of not being able to run in distance races, and now at age 46 she has once again returned to the fountain and quenched her thirst with 607 most wondrous miles over 10 days.

“It was good the way it was.  Even though there were hard moments, that everybody has to go through,but I took it quite calmly, and tried to make the best out of it.  I got sick, I got a cold and had no energy for running.  So I was just walking and running for days and days.  But I was happy.  Everything was actually super.”

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“I feel just happy.”  She is only 31 but Jayasalini is extremely experienced at multi days.  Usually she competes in the 10 day but for the first time she has entered the 6.  “I am flying like a bird in an endless sky.”

Most people would find this kind of comment unfathomable.  On her last day here she will have completed 74 miles giving her an incredible total of 407.  Simply running for 6 days is certainly enough but a Russian film crew has been documenting her progress trying to get some evidence of what happens to the human body during endurance sport.  Shortly after she finishes her race they will discover that she has lost 3kg and 15% of her body fat.  Information that really doesn’t mean a whole lot to a soul reaching into the beyond.

“I even feel a bit sorry that the race is over.  A couple of days ago I was looking forward to this moment.  But now I want it to continue.”  On her last lap she says she will just chant, “gratitude, gratitude, gratitude.”

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Some performances just sing and shout the expression Self Transcendence.  53 year old Nishima from Auckland has today set a personal best of 582 miles over 10 days surpassing her previous best of 521.  It is one of her last laps and she says quite reasonably, “everything is cramped up.  That is why I am walking.”

Asked if she will do another laps, she says, “I might try.”  Then does that very thing.

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Kaneenika ran an extraordinary race.  Her 692 miles on the board cannot begin to tell the true story of her courage and determination.  Just 5 miles separated her from Sarah at the end of the day.  Last night she pushed as hard as she could possibly do.  It was all she had left, she could not possibly do more.

“The legs are as fresh or as unfresh as when we talked before the race.”  A week ago on the day before he started the 6 day I was curious as to why Jesper Olsen, a man on his final leg of running for the 2nd time around the world would take time off from his journey and come here.

“Emotionally it makes a big difference.  For me it is important most of all.  Each time I do a multi day during a world run, after a few days I begin to understand what I take for granted during the world run.  It is not to be taken for granted.”

“For all of us who run on the big circle.  All the time the surroundings are the same so you must go into yourself, and motivate.  Then I realize when I do the world run that it is infinitely easier.  At any given time the scenery changes, so it is much more easier.  Each race is a different experience, and this race was 400 miles.  You have to be satisfied with what you do.  This is one of those races that I would like to come back to when I am not doing a world run.”

In just a couple of days he will once again be back on the road and running this time to quite a different destination.

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“It is heaven,” says Usika who sits now after he has just finished the race.  Between himself and Shashanka, the 2 of them they have run almost 1,000 miles in the past 10 days.  “Actually many people were suffering from the weather conditions especially the champions.  “But the best is to not be influenced by the circumstances, whatever they are.  Whatever comes your way.

“I am just looking at the sky and everything is beautiful,” adds Shashanka.  “I am really happy.  This is always the moment that I really look forward to.  Sit down in a chair and keep the satisfaction, fulfillment.  Whatever you do in that race is just great.  I think nobody can really describe is happening in each one.  I had a difficult race probably the most difficult I have ever had.  It is unimaginable what happens in 10 days.”

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“I am feeling very great I have finished.”  Daria has just completed her second multi day in a row here doing 371 miles in 6 days.  “I am so surprised about it.  Till the end it was not possible for me.”

Last year she participated in the 10 day.  “It is like a different life, it is very different.  But I cannot say what is more difficult.  It is different lives and I go in 2 different ways, and it is all great. ”

She is a professional alpinist, “I think it is possible for me to join everything.  Mountains, running, flying, everything.  Why not.”

“Everybody helps me.  Every morning I find some presents, somebody give me something.  Every body tries to help.  I think I have many many helpers, more than 20 I think.  Like a family.”

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“I was here to work.”  Michel Guoin did that and then some.  For 4 years he has been trying to surpass his previous best of 538 miles.  A goal that has eluded not just him but his family.  His wife and son are almost his constant companions and you can see their efforts were superb as well as his.  This year he was able to break the lock that held him back and managed to finish with 547 miles.  An effort that required a final day of 65 miles.

“It was a long time but I have got it now.  Timing was very tight, but I knew what I was doing.  So each day I knew I was going in the right direction.  Now I have to beat it next time.”

With him now is a first timer in the 6 day Roger Martel who ran 339 miles.  “It was very very emotional.”  He feels really inspired by not just his running but as well by all the new friends he met in the past week.  On a practical note he adds, “I am working on Monday.”

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When I ask Mika, the Finish film director who has been shooting here for the past week whether or not he has a film or not he says, “I hope so.  It is a fantastic event.  It was a chance to see something unique that you don’t see in Finland.  It was a surprise to me that there was so much volunteering of people involved, and how beautifully this race is organized.  seeing the atmosphere at the small village here.  In many ways it was a beautiful experience.”

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“Everybody starts and they work through their doubts, fears, and anxieties.  You work through all that then injuries come up for you to work on.  Then by day 5 or 6 you have about 80 little Buddhas walking around.   They got on top of all their issues so they are in a good space.”  Tallaja Carey from Auckland ran 318 miles here in his first 6 day race, and I am no expert on this but he does sound if not look particularly Zen like after having taken a shower and changed out of his running attire.  “It is quite interesting.  You can actually see the transformation of the whole crowd here, and the valleys and the troughs of the race and what everybody goes through.  The trials and tribulations of being on your feet for so long.”

For quite a few years he was the other side of the track as a helper setting it up and part of a team that keeps the race running.  “The founder’s philosophy, Sri Chinmoy, on tennis, on love and serve.  similarly the runners love and the helpers serve. “  When asked which he prefers he suggest that there are 2 parts to the apple, together they make it whole.  “They are 2 very different things, I like them both.  I am really happy serving and I am really happy running.” As to what happens next year.  “I may step up a notch and run the 10 day.”

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Alan Young just may be the best multi day running helper in the world.  His talent matches that of his runner William Sichel.  I have never seen him for even a moment fail or ever fall short of his responsibilities and duties.  In the past 6 days he has been a constant cheerful supporter, of not just William, but to also much of the village.

By the board he suggests that they were 14 miles short of their goal of 475.  William did not go out for the last hour or so of the race because clearly the goal was out of reach and his place in the race was secure.  I ask stupidly if he was saving it for the next race.  “I wouldn’t say he saved very much, would you.”

Asked how he feels. “I am terrible.  I ran every meter.”

As for the atmosphere here,  “I am not a religious person.  I am not a politician, I am an engineer.  The whole runner first, and the whole kind of ambiance of it doesn’t mater who you are or where you are from.  It is almost as though you are stepping into a private party.  We felt like very welcome guests and very humbling and it is so different.”

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“Perfect weather didn’t happen.”  58 year old Sottish runner William Sichel is sitting at this moment in his tent after just completing his 6 day race with a total of 461 miles.  “I think I will remember this as very very hard probably one of my toughest ever 6 day races.   (this is number 5) “They threw everything at me.  As you can hear I have an infection and some very tough opponents as well.  Put that into the mix and made it a very very hard race.  So to come out with a podium position I take that as a bonus.”

He also adds that he knew it was going to be competitive.  “If I didn’t want to be beat I could have stayed at home.” Laughs

Of Alan, “I would say he would probably add about 10 km a day.  That is a lot.  I would describe it as a team effort.  He is part of the team.  Obviously I am doing the running, but if the team is working well I do better.”

The notion of ever giving up just doesn’t fit anywhere into his concept of multi day running.  Simply to be part of the unique community of runners means you are not that sort of individual or runner.  Those types he suggest might be better suited for running the marathon.  Of the multi day runners, “You don’t give up like that.  It is off the scale kind of determination,that you don’t meet in normal life.”

Why he does these things.  “Obviously it is not the money.  There isn’t any.  So obviously it is something else.  All of us are trying find this out, aren’t we.  Probably the answer is slightly different for everyone.  It is obviously something very deep, and satisfying.  Something that lasts with you all your life I think.  Obviously you can’t find it in the check book.” Laughs

We had talked a week ago about the Scottish record that has stood untouched since 1882.  Can he get it?  “I still think it is possible given the conditions.”

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At age 70 Pete Stringer managed to run a miraculous race.  The numbers on the board match his personal best of 332.  “With age and attrition I thought that was long gone.”  It must be noted that his mileage puts him in 8th position out of 23 runners.

His wife Jane is with him for this truly beautiful moment.  “We did it.  We did it again.  I feel almost like I did it myself.  He is just amazing.”

Adds Pete, “that’s because I couldn’t have done it without her.”

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Enthusiasm begins the journey.
Determination continues the journey.
Surrender completes the journey.
Gratitude not only fulfills the journey
But also pleases God
In God’s own Way.

In the tranquility of a silenced mind, the runner’s body becomes one with a flow of movement and energy that requires no examination, and certainly  no deciding needs to be done.  One can feel intuition expressing itself clearly and all we need do is just to enjoy our own greater inner capacity that has somehow managed to find its way into our personal driver’s seat. This kind of experience is always possible as well in our own day to day living, but out here in Flushing Meadow where the runners have pummeled their physical beings into extreme fatigue the mind sometimes has no choice but to surrender to the clarity of the heart.

photo by Prabhakar

A couple of days ago Vasu  Duziy had taken a break and when he attempted to get up he simply couldn’t move.  He said that at that moment he remembered a prayer that spoke about cheerful surrender and having no expectation.  At that very moment Dipali came by and saw his discomfort and suggested that he simply keep moving.  “So I tried to walk and afterwards tried to run and soon my shinsplint became better and by God’s grace I started to run and was very very happy.”

At different times during the week he has been in and out of 1st place in the 10 day race.  Even now, in this his very first 10 day run, he has gone further and pushed his body harder than he has ever asked of it before.  He says that right now with 18 very long hours to go he is not interested in what place he receives.  He just wants to do his very best.  He has made his choice and now will simply follow his heart all the way to the finish line.

She is smiling and she tells me she is okay but Kaneenika’s is clearly a very tired runner.  “I am okay.  Each race is different.”  As for plans on what to do between now and noon tomorrow there is only one, “run, and be happy.”

As for the things that affected her most this year.  “Definitely weather is a factor.  It is slowing me down.  I don’t have as much energy as usually during the race.”

She has been on the track now for almost 4 hours and says a break will soon come.  Between now and noon tomorrow, “I will definitely push.  That is what these races are about.  I just want to do my best.  What ever the result is this is for me what self transcendence really is.  It doesn’t matter what the result is or who the winer is.  I will just keep going.”

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Helpers get tired too

It would be really nice if everyone could set a personal best during events that are this long and hard, but of course it doesn’t always happen.  In one of life’s little surprises there is very likely going to be a runner here who will almost definitely set a personal best.  Breaking their old record of 332 miles in 6 days.  If things happen as they should, 70 year old Pete Stringer will be that person and he will have his wife to thank for it.

5 days ago Pete was teetering on the brink of slipping off the course and into the sunset, or perhaps more accurately expressed, jumping out of the torrential rain and slipping back into his dry car with his wife Jane, as she headed back to Cape Cod.

Her reaction to his escape plan, “No, in no uncertain terms.  Of course she was right.  She understands what I get out of this.”

I ask him what the number by his name will mean to him at noon time tomorrow.  “I will represent all that I can muster up, in these particular 6 days.”

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“I don’t have a voice.  I think the cold and the wind got me.  Last night I was coughing and I guess I developed a little bit of a chest cold.  I felt a little dizzy.  I didn’t know what was wrong, and I had to go in early for my rest.  When I came out I still had the same determination, as hard as it is.  I am still moving still trying to be happy.”

Right now she is about to put on her down jacket.  “I am frozen.  I can’t get warm.  So I guess it is the cold.”

“I am still trying to get some goals.  As long as I don’t go to the edge.  I just have to feel comfortable, and keep  good pace.  I don’t want to give up.  I came out here to do my best.  So whatever the numbers are on the board.  No matter how I feel, that is my best.”

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A couple of nights ago during the deepest dark stretch a friend showed up at the race and asked why Galya was not on the course.  He was told that he was taking a break and the friend asked for how long.  Looking over the sheet they realized that he had been on break for more than 2 hours.

The friend than imme- diately went to his tent and got him up.  Galya tells me today how glad he was that this happened.  There will be time for sleep later.  Going into the final day Galya has the slimmest of leads over William.

For Jesper in the great scheme of things he still has to finish his around the world run in St.Johns NFLD.  For now there is just the running until 12 tomorrow.

“His feet were hurting a lot.  So I had an old part of Assics and I offered them to him because his feet were hurting so much.” Dr. Mitch Proffman has been coming and offering chiropractic help at the race every day before he starts work and then again on some afternoons and evenings as well.  There are many who contribute to the races but Mitch is one of those exceptions in that there seems to be no limit to his giving and in this case he has provided not only medical assistance but in addition a pair of shoes for a runner who has discovered to his dismay that minimalist shoes just may not work the entire distance of a multi day race.”

“This barefoot running is an interesting thing but for a 6 and 10 day race it is pretty intense.”  Pedro who happens to be that runner says for him it makes him, “feel alive.”

Mitch says in his experience the shoes are best for younger athletes and ones whose alignment is sound.  Any problems a runner has, he suggests become accentuated when wearing them.

He then speaks about the race.  “This event is more about the spirit than it is for the mind.”  Every morning he also likes to run himself around the course.  “I am inspired to run with these people.  I am always motivated.  My favorite oxymoron is that running is a positive addiction.  I am totally addicted to this run and working on all these runners, because they are the most motivating and enlightened people to run with.  They very rarely complain about anything.”

“I just ran for about an hour and I feel great.  It is just really inspiring.  I would like to come back for ever.”

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“They build them very strong in the Ukraine.”  Gaurish is also a chiropractor working in the next cubicle and like Mitch has his hands full of runners who seem to appear in an endless stream.  On the table now in front of him is Yuri the current leader of the 10 day men.

He says his job is helped if the runner comes to him in a good consciousness.  “They don’t resist nearly as much.  They don’t lock into patterns as easy.  Whenever issues come up they can bounce off of them a lot faster.  Therefore if an injury did happen it would not be as big a deal.  It would pass through as opposed to being blocked, or intensifying or magnifying.”

He says injuries are of course possible for anyone during an event like this.  “Who they are in the face of these injuries helps them surpass them a lot faster.”

He says that though there are about 20 languages spoken here it is never a problem with him when he does his service.  “The body has a language of its own so I just talk to the body through my hands.”

He says that not all runners come to him with major problems.  “We are providing better body mechanics, so that he will have a sense of feeling lighter.  Which gives him more endurance.”  He feels that the runners should come often if a chiropractor is available.  “It could be one little thing that could make such a big difference for them.  It could make things go more smoothly for them throughout the day.”

“It is always very rewarding serving these guys.  I get a lot out of it.  It is meaningful for me.  My whole purpose here is to serve.  Not just here in this race but in life.  I am always looking forward to the next project that is for sure.  When you come here you always meet a lot of people with great inspiration and aspiration.  It is always very fulfilling”

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Tim Lawson, 26, from Broomfield Colorado first came to the race 6 years ago when he was 20 years old.  Describing his plan than, “I was completely unrealistic.  I thought 120 miles a day was in the realm of possibilities.” Laughs “Didn’t happene.  I learned a lot about what actually goes in this race and ended up over 6 days going 285 miles.  I was out of shape.”

“The following year 2007, I knew a little bit better.  Still a little bit unrealistic. Laughs But I was able to go 315 miles that year.”

Of his return after 5 years, “I was much more realistic.  What is possible.  I was shooting for a number closer to 400.  I am in much better shape.  I am much better trained.  But this year I just fell apart at the race.” What happened, just into his 2nd day in the race, was that Tim got sick and started throwing up.  This went on for some time and Tim was advised to simply pack it in.  At that time he said, “all my personal goals were well out of reach.  I didn’t have any pressure, and I had 3 days to really do whatever I wanted.  I was here so I started running and I felt great.”  So good in fact that he has put in 50 miles each of the past 2 days.

“It has been fun running.  I have still had a lot of ups and downs.  Now that I am so far behind the competition it is, kind of funny.”  Without question Tim is enjoying himself.  He likes the camaraderie.  “I am being inspired by these other incredible runners.  I just love running on a beautiful day like this, even if it is really cold and windy.”

“Giving up can be an easy option but, there is generally something that will give you a lot more joy in life than giving up.”

Click to play interview

There is no finish line
In the perfection-race.
Perfection is an eternal run.

Also when our bodies have been working hard little warning signals come up and warn us that if we keep going this way we are going to be in real trouble. You don’t have to be part of the great surging tide of humanity very long to have this notion of ourselves stamped into our brains that we are limited, we are weak, and we need to be careful when doing just about anything.

If you ride on the same rails as this limiting philosophy you will never see much of the true world or really understand who and what we really are.  At 1 am this morning I came back to Flushing Meadow to once again immerse myself in a miraculous world where Impossibility is battled relentlessly by not just those running and shuffling round the course but as well by all those who serve to make it all happen here in Flushing Meadow each year at this time.

Right now it is smack dab in the middle of the vast dark night.  The city about us slumbers and is as quiet and as still as it ever gets, and yet a surprising number of runners keep going.  Reaching within to pull forth the untouchable reserves of strength and determination that they never knew was possible.  As well simply change the old channel of how they listen to themselves and attempt to discover the silent voice within that we so often ignore and dare not listen to.

We don’t do this most often because we are afraid of what we might become.  Which is simply our own true divine selves within, that cannot speak, and does not know the word defeat. Instead, it only knows and cares for self transcendence.

“Night running is one of my favorite things.” After having spent just about 8 days on the course now it is hard for me to see mcuh difference between how Sarah runs during the bright day or now in a night that has closed in tight and dark around the park.  She calls what she is doing now shuffling but she is so quick that even a talented runner like Yuri gets passed easily, at least for now.

“Actually that are not too many people out on the course now.  William Scihel is probably one of the best ultra runners in the world, and when he passes me by which is quite often.  It is so incredible.”

“You are on your own and with your own thoughts.  Than you hear this little shuffle behind you.  We don’t have to talk.  Not many of the runners are talking but we are sharing such a nice experience.”

She is now heading into her final 2 days.  “I guess I still have that goal of 700 in mind.  You know, I am really pushing to my limit to get the daily mileage up.  I have to say I don’t think there is much more in me.  We will just see what happens.  I think you have to let go of expectations, and all the mental stuff as well.  Actually just enjoy the fact that we are runners, and we are out here and it is a privilege.”

“If you get caught up in the goal sometimes you just loose the joy.  It is a fine balance I guess.  I think it is important to have a high goal, something you haven’t done before.  At the same time try and enjoy each moment, and each lap, as much as possible.”

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“Instead of 3 quarters running I am probably 3 quarters walking.”  Nirbili moves at quite a different speed than Sarah but this 66 year runner from Auckland is simply relentless when it comes to the 10 day race.  She has been doing it devotedly now for 10 years.  She enjoys the experience here so much and it has taught her how to simply push back any expectations for mileage and focus instead on doing her best and being joyful.  “I just have to see what happens.”

“I still love the nature thing.  I love the early mornings.  It is so beautiful it is peaceful.  I think the bad weather gets us all down,  particularly the storm we had, it was hard to cope with.”

I suggest that most people are in bed right now.  She says, “Out here it is different.  That is one thing I like here, it is different.  I am extended to do something I would never do at home.  I love that aspect.  Something make me want to come back and do it again.  It is magic.”

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“I feel the inner energy to continue my race at night.” They are 2 Ukrainian runners, Syona and Vasyl and their energy and enthusiasm as we share a mile together is not only keeping me awake but is also as though I almost feel like I am really coming to life.  “Previous races I preferred running only in the day.  Now I feel energy to run in the night because I want to do my best result.  Nights help to give me more miles.”

Vasyl is in the 6 day race for the first time.  When asked whether or not Syona is coaching him he says, “He speaks about the race a lot but does not teach me.  Syona always smiles and this is the best possible advise.  Better than words.”

Of his friend Syona tells me that he is also being inspired by him.  “I feel his dynamic power.  I can walk more quickly.  My best race was in 2010 I have done 503 miles in 10 days this is my best result.  I hope this race is better than my best race.”

Vasyl has twice done a 48 hour race but he says of the 6 day, “It is a big difference.” He is so enthusiastic about what is happening to him.  “I want to share this experience with others.  “Just moving here makes you happy.  And this happiness gives me energy to reach my goal.  My goal is self transcendence, and in this self transcendence be happy.”

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“They just cannot believe. O my God is it possible.” This was a reaction when the 2 girls recently gave a talk about multi day running.   Rageshri and Kushali have been integral parts of these races now for years.  To the eye they may not seem like the most typical of multi day runners but when it comes to the most essential component of the race, namely hearts these 2 Ukranian runners are world class.

Before they introduce the race to those who come to their talks they first simply mention the message of self transcendence.  “Sometimes you are not satisfied with what you have and what you get.” They show slides of them running marathons. A typical question at this time.  “How is it possible.  You are musicians.”  They describe a step by step process that initially begins with them giving a musical concert for the audience using their performing title of, ‘Sound and Silence.  At the end of which they say, “tomorrow you will hear something new.  We are not just musicians.  A lot of people come to the lecture after the concert.”

Kaushali for the 8 previous years run in the 10 day race.  This year she is joining Rajeshri who has done this same race for 7 years.  She says, “it is a different experience.”  Her first year she describes running the 6 day and not having a happy experience.  She thought, “If I run 10 day, maybe I will be happier.  I have to tell you that the 10 day is easier.  I don’t know why.”

She suggests that perhaps a spiritual transformation has to take place when one participates.  One which is easier to grasp and assimilate over 10 days than it is over 6.

“Many of the people say that this is very special.  At the beginning of the 6 day we had terrible terrible rain.  It was challenging, like no other race. It was so hard.  But still people are staying on the roads.”

Rajeshri tells me that a while ago her helper asked her how to describe a runners high, that certainly she must get while participating here.  She Jokes, “You know what.  I get my runners high only after I have crossed the finish line and I am lying down at home.”

Kaushali describes her best race here in 2006.  “I was running first day 70 miles.  Then 58 miles. Every day it was so many miles.  My friends were asking how was this possible.”  She describes smply feeling eagerness and energy.  “So it is possible even for me with my weight to run fast.”

“Good consciousness that is the most important.  Just to be on the road.”

Click to play interview and concert

Ilvaca gets ready to tackle the night.

Jayasalini and her mom

William and Alan at night.

William and Alan in the day and in fact all the time

Nidhruvi and Usika

“I am enjoying, I am having a really good time.”  4 days ago Francesco and Satyamurthi were just 2 new runners attempting their very first multi day.

“I am happy.  I was just thinking right now, why am I so happy.  So because I love running, and I mean I am here and I can run as much as I want.  Sometimes you have to quit because you have to go back to work, here you can run as much as you want.  So what else do you need.”

The both of them having been sitting next a real expert in Alan Young.  “He doesn’t tell me things, I just look at him, and I learn from him.”

He tells me that Satyamurthi has struggled with a small problem, “but he is happy to be here too.”

“This is my first one.”  Before I leave he will pass 250 miles.  Asked if he is surprised by how well things are going.  “Yeah a lot.  It is all grace it is not me.  I just keep on going that is it.  Just be happy that is the main thing.”

Alan who is sitting close by confirms, “it is much easier when you are happy.  Because the miles flow when you are happy.  It is wonderful to be with newcomers.  That is what every sport needs.”

Click to play interview

There are so many ways
To reach one’s goal.
I found my goal
By chanting the motto of my life:
“Never give up.”

He turned 64 this year and his only concession to age is to simply skip the 10 day race and instead run the 6.  I don’t know if he got any presents but he is probably pretty happy with his 3 day total of 167 which puts him in 10th place in the men’s category.  I went out with him on the course for a short while and didn’t even bother to try and interview him.  The fact that he is still here and enjoying multi day races and still moving steadily along says of Luis all that needs to be said.  He enjoys company and he has good friends that he can count on.  The fact that he never misses these races means that the Self Transcendence races can always count on him as well.

What the younger runners might not know is just how really good a runner this scrawny man from Brooklyn really once was.  How also he has somehow maintained now for many years a daily and very disciplined training program.  How dedicated he is and just how big a heart somehow fits into a guy who can’t weigh more than 150 lbs.  I can’t say for sure when was the first time he ran a Sri Chinmoy race but in 1986 (26 years ago) he was good enough to win this 24 hour race with 138 miles.

What is interesting about this photo is who else is in it, namely Ted Corbitt one of the legends of distance running who himself even ran this race when he was 82 years old completing 303 miles.  In light of this, there really doesn’t ever seem to be an end to Luis being a part of multi day running.  The only real end in sight is the finish line now just 3 days off.  After that is a short ride back home and then to head back out on to the long roads of Brooklyn again the next day.

Setbacks are pretty much a part of life.  As an athlete, if you haven’t experienced one, of some kind or another, than you have been extremely fortunate.  For most of us they represent the challenges that either make us stronger or defeat us all together.

Galya Balatsky had an injury a year ago that lasted for many months.  It was a stubborn kind that to him probably felt like an eternity.  No matter what he did, it refused to improve.  He once even flew to Minnesota to see a specialist

Nothing seemed to work and then one day in  August last year, Galya suddenly realized, almost by accident, that he was okay and more to the point he could once again begin training.

What came afterwards was a renewed passion for the sport that also included a 7th place with 127 miles in a 24 hour championship race in Cleveland and at a 48 hour race last fall in Texas he won with 209 miles.  “I was happy that it was my best time and that I could run.”

“I like running, and I try to do my best, and enjoy the race.  I don’t look at the score board, in can always change even in one hour.”

“I wanted to run last year the 6 day and then I couldn’t come.  Now I just want to run, no matter the weather conditions, and perfect runners here.”  At this moment we pass by Rimas who also has had to endure his own setbacks.  His which was a formidable 10 year absence from the sport.  His only plan now as he heads into the second half of the race, “I try to keep going, do my best and enjoy.”

Click to play interview

A little Score Board magic

Just seeing Rimas Jakelaitis running on the course again after 10 years is a real joy for anyone who remembers what a impressive and powerful athlete he was then.  When we spoke last Saturday he was as well very glad simply to be able to participate.  What he really had in his legs was anybody’s guess.  The strength of his heart was already a given.  The weather on the first day of the race conspired against everyone, there were simply horrible conditions.  “The first day was a very big rain.  I ran easy.  On the second day I tried to push, I felt that it was not good.  My knee hurt a little.”

His strategy since then is to maintain 50 to 55 miles a day.  “I go home and sleep and relax.”  While on the course he tries to only run and not to walk.  “If I run I have more time to relax.  My body told me not too push.  If you push you will break again.  Now I need more experience, and training, training, training. I don’t have my multi day experience right now.  (10 year gap)  After 2 or 3 more years than maybe I can push.”

“After the 2nd day I had a little problem, I went home to sleep.”  He says his wife told him that he should simply stay home and not come back to the race.  He felt something else.  After a break he simply came back out and went back to what he does best, run.

“After the second day I felt bad.  Now I feel strong.  Today I won’t go home.  I will sleep in my tent and try and run tonight.  Maybe I will catch a few more miles.  I don’t know.  When my body tells me to push, I push.”

Click to play interview

Sarah ran a remarkable 67 miles yesterday.

Tallaja is getting his shinsplints seen to by an experienced runner.

Allergies started playing havoc with Ashprihanal from before the race started.  He can compete at any time and any place with other runners but pollen for him right now may be his greatest adversary.  He has a breathe right strip on his nose to help with his breathing but is still a long way from going slow.

He tells me the rain on the first day was lucky for him at least when it came to his allergy but most certainly, “it was not nice.  Very bad, and the second day was so windy and cold.”

“Last night was peaceful and no wind.  So today has been perfect.”

He has run the 3100 mile race 11 times and says that there time is quite different.  The day always ends at midnight and you can go home and take a good rest, and then start again the next day.  Here in the 6 day time simply blurs together and the days cannot be separated.

He has been happy with his first 2 days here but since then can’t seem to find his energy and been simply trying to rest more.

“Last night, even though I was weak I was enjoying the peace.”

There is a Finnish film crew making a movie about Ashprihanal.  “I hope they can show what the 6 day is all about, I will be happy.”

Click to play interview

Dugout

“I feel very fortunate, because after that North Eastern rain storm.  I was very discouraged.”  The conditions were horrendous and for at least a moment Pete Stringer contemplated heading back to Cape Cod with his wife Jane who had to return to work there.

“Then I got to thinking.  How about the rest of these guys. I decided to show a little heart, and boy am I glad I did, because everything that makes this race what I love.  I often say it is my favorite race of the year, including Boston.  Then I would have missed out.”

Last summer Pete turned 70 years old and yet he seems quite frankly to be anything but interested in retiring from running.  “I am one of the lucky guys,” he says because injuries and illness haven’t held him back, and, “I have been inspired by the Ted Corbitts and the Don Winkleys.”  He proceeds to praise both men, mentioning how Don even won a race last year.  Of the late Ted Corbitt he says “he epitomizes what ultra running and ultra runners usually are.”

“I teach a running class both in the spring and in the fall.  This is our 15th year, and the classes have grown enormous.  I have put the emphasis on how running contributes to your health and to your wellness.  Running is free, it is one of the great joys that we have been bequested with.  Exercise is free.”

“I am going to give it my all.  I love this race.”

Click to play interview

First dream and dream
And then act and act,
Ceaselessly and unconditionally.

“Then I said it is 2 days, plus 2 days, plus 2 makes 6.  I had some confidence that it would be good.  I will enjoy it. I try and enjoy every second of being here.  But the second day of the race this year, I never had in any races,……it was really tough for me.”  She describes that just into her 2nd day it felt more like she had already been running for 6.

“I think this is an experience that you can never predict and you can never plan.  The Supreme always has his own plan for you.  And all you need is to just accept whatever experiences you get.  And accept it as cheerfully as you can.  So I try.  This morning was really not easy.  I was crying and crying and then God’s grace descended and now after a break I feel better, physically and emotionally, so I am happy.”

For most working folks locked into a 9 to 5 lifestyle the world of ultra endurance sports may be several time zones beyond comprehensible.  Making a living and paying the bills is a struggle that most of us feel is one of the unfortunate givens in order to stand in line with the rest of humanity.  Yet right now there are more than 70 runners circling a loop in Flushing Meadow who have turned away from all the conventions of the so called normal world and are subjecting themselves to a physical and mental struggle that is incomprehensible to most and intolerable to nearly all.

“In general it was a feeling that nearly everything hurt.  When you start feeling sorry for yourself, that you go through all this pain.  Then once you try to get rid of this feeling, and just enjoy.  Even if it is pain, it will go away.”

“When I try and concentrate on something else, for example breathing.  When I try to get energy and power from everything around.  Then at midday there was a beautiful beautiful rainbow.  I have never ever seen such a rainbow.  I think this morining was difficult for everybody, and when we saw this rainbow.  Everybody was staring and looking at the sky, and got so much joy.  It was such special blessings.”

Jayasalini says that she has no mileage goals for this race, but describes that she had a powerful inspiration yesterday, “to stay in a good consciousness.  I try not to be attached to this mileage, to the results.  For me the point is to stay in the moment, and not to think of the past or the future.  Just do this, one step after another.”

Click to play interview

Gudrun is in her 2nd 10 day race.  Dipali who is simply burning up the course checks in for a micro pit stop and then just keeps going.

“They are swollen and painful on the bottom.  Now they are enjoying a very nice massage.”  Shramaniya a 31 year old runner from Zlin Czech Republic, has ventured into brand new territory in her running life now by entering the 6 day race for the first time.

Her numbers on the board right do not even begin to tell the story of what is really happening for her here.  “I really enjoy this race.  I am very happy to be on the track.  I have been thinking if I would ever to be able to do something like this.  Now I can say that I am half way.”

“I can still say that I am enjoying, but there are moments….(Long Pause)

“The good part is that you discover that you have a bigger capacity than you thought that you had.  The inner capacity.  You discover the inner silence, or the inner strength to go beyond.  Beyond the pain or beyond the thoughts.”

“I discovered that some thoughts are so heavy that you just throw them out, and I feel much lighter then.  It is very interesting work here on the track with myself.  My inner self.”

“I am definitely surprised I have never experienced such an inner thing before.”

Leelavatee who has been quietly working on her feet tells me,

“I like that after all those miles the runners are still smiling and still going on.  Those achievements are amazing.”

Click to play interview

A Journey that goes beyond within.

“I am not fast I am just running.”  Daria Lashina 27 from Nizghniy Novgorod Russia points across the winding course.  “You can see that there are a lot of guys that are really fast.”

Speed is of course relative in a multi day race, but to my eye at least Daria is a superbly gifted athlete who makes an incredibly difficult sport somehow look easy.

Last year she came to the 10 race for the first time.  “It was a very new experience for me.  But I think it is a new experience even if you have been here many times.  Each new time it will be a new experience.  Every time it is very different.”

After she finishes the race here she is planning to go to Alaska and be part of a team that will climb Mount McKinley.  I ask if she looks upon this race as training for her climbing.  “Not it is not training it is just running.  Because most of this year I have traveled a lot, and working a lot, and it was all over the world.  It was a lot of moving for me and now I am staying in one place.  This 6 days I stay in one place and I am relaxing.  It is like vacation.  We have a lot of good food.  Sleep any time you want.”

“Of course it is hard. but it is also vacation.  For many others who work this is also a vacation, they take a break and come here.  It is not really easy, because I feel too much pain and too much tired, but it is like a game.”

“I think it is one of the places in the world, there are not so many places like this, where people are smiling.  Most people are smiling here.  Some people smile inside, and some people smile with their mouths.  It doesn’t matter.”

Click to play interview

“It all started a year ago.  I was on a working trip in the mountains shooting a documentary, and one of the girl climbers there told me about the race.  I was amazed”

“So then I thought that I could not just make one movie but a whole series of them on how extreme sports can affect our body and our mind.”  She needed a runner in Moscow so that she could scientifically test her, which is how Jayasalini became the subject of a documentary now being filmed in Flushing Meadow park by Sveta Rodina and her cameraman Alexandr.  Sveta’s sister Elena, from Chicago, has come to hang out and to help with her sister’s project over the length of the race.  She also provides some bonus backup Russian translation.

I am curious about what they discovered about Jayasalini when they took her into the lab.  “Right now we only know that she is in very good shape.  After the race we will go back to Moscow and take all the measurements again, and we will see what has changed in her body.

I wonder what her impressions are of being here in the midst of all the excitement and energy of the race.  “I am extremely excited.  People are smiling and there is a lot of positive energy around.  So much that I had to run around the course myself 3 times.  I like to be a part of it.”

Curious, I ask if the name of the race, Self Transcendence means anything to her.  “I think I do understand. because before this race I was in the mountains.  We were shooting a film in the mountains, and it was very difficult.  It was physically very challenging but then afterwards I was elated.  I was excited that I had overcoming the difficulties.  For me it was self transcendence.”

“In the movie we are going to start with the physical measurements but throughout the movie we will have interviews with Jayasalini and we will be able to show her spirit.  By the end of the movie you will see less physical information and more spiritual.”

We joke about just how many other Russians are in the race.  “I don’t know why.  Maybe for Russian people it is very important to find something in this world that is spiritual.”

Click to play interview

Francesco has 127 miles after 2 days on the course and lots of friends.

“I don’t feel ill, I am just hoarse.” It is my first conversation with William since the start of the race.  His words take away all my concerns as well the fact that he has covered 178 miles after 48 hours.  “The wind has gone into the larynx. I am going well and feeling fine.”

As for the difficult first day.  “There is now way it couldn’t set you back really.  It was so extreme the weather it is no way it couldn’t have an influence.  You just have to get on with it don’t you.  That is my attitude.  It is one of those things that you have to get your head down and grind it out.  Get what you can, and move on.”

Of the race as a whole, “I am enjoying parts of it.  It is extremely challenging weather obviously, with the rain on day one, and the wind today. So there is no room for boredom anyway. ”

“I have got quite a good rhythm and quite a good flow.  It will be easier to maintain if the weather calms down a bit.”

Click to play interview

I do not know where to go,
I do not know why to go,
But I do know that my Lord Supreme
Has a very special Plan chalked out
For me.

In training for 100 mile races I am always running over 150 miles a week.  I run doubles and sometimes triples, and after running some of my 100 mile races I have felt extraordinarily good the next day, almost fresh.  So I figured a 6 day may be something I am just built for.”

When the 6 day race started yesterday Michael Arnstein, simply slipped into a higher gear than everybody else and literally left the other 35 runners behind.  It was almost as though he had entered some completely different event then the rest of the field who were, for a time at least, simply sharing the track with him.

Yet a multi day race is rarely conquered by raw power.  Nature as well stepped into the mix and unleashed 2 inches of torrential rain accompanied by powerful gusts.  It was a wake up call for any who thought the race would be easy,  throughout the long stormy night it certainly wasn’t. Michael ran hard for the first 12 hours and then took a break.  One so long that for any other athlete it could have been the stuff that breaks dreams and hearts.

Yet now it is late on Monday afternoon and Michael is still here.  Like the old fable of the tortoise and the speedy hare Michael for now, finds himself far back in the field.  I don’t know how far the gap was earlier in the day,  but for now he is nearly 40 miles behind the leader.  An insurmountable distance if mathematicians and statisticians ruled the universe.  They don’t thankfully and this rabbit named Michael Arnstein has successfully pushed back whatever devils or discomfort that pulled him away and has once again fully entered the race.

By entering the 6 day race he has absolutely found a new challenge that does not yield an inch to the timid or the foolish.  He has made short work of the many 100 mile races he has run, and he may as well in the next few days, figure out and conquer the 6 day event here.  If he doesn’t he has at least pushed back a challenge in his first day that maybe he has never had to confront in his young running career ever before.  He was pummeled by adversity and picked himself up and simply come out and gone back to work.

“It may be the first balance point in this 6 day race, where it comes that point where you are balancing between being very very hard and very very enjoyable.  Because, it cannot get worse.  So then it has to become fun.”

“Last night would be like a good summer’s day in Scandinavia, and I don’t like summer in Scandinavia.  It was pouring down, and I think many of us were pretty miserable.”  He describes how in these conditions practically everything he had became soaked.  “I think it is still a thing that you can get used to that you can’t get comfortable with.”

He tells me that he pays no attention to his mileage on the board.

“I think there are sometimes fun that are not only superficial but also goes deeper, that requires suffering also.  You don’t get one without the other.”

Click to play interview

Galya is leading the men’s 6 day field for now.

Nidhruvi is comfortably holding onto 3rd in the women’s 10 day race by consistently running 63 miles a day.

“It was pretty bad.  I have never seen this course flooded and it was up to our ankles, and the wind was fierce.”

“Yeah it was quite a nice night.”  Laughs

Last year Dipali, like all the runners, had perhaps a record breaking stretch of miserable weather.  Of last night, “I think it was a tip over that.  It was really bitterly cold.  We were all pretty much soaked from noon on, and we kept running out of rain gear.  That was the next problem.”

I suggest that the rain is scheduled to stop shortly.  “The dry is good, but the cold is still not good.”

“I like warm weather but that is the beauty of being a multiday runner.  You take what you  have and what you get.  You have to be surrendered.”

Click to play interview

Jayasalini and Daria are the other top women in the 6 day race.

“The longest I have run and kept moving is 25 and a half hours when I tried to do the Spartathlon in Greece, but I didn’t finish that race.  that took place last September 2011.  I had a severe sensitivity in the bottom of my feet.  Something I hadn’t experienced before trying to be on my feet for so long.  It hurt to stand.  Forget about walking I literally couldn’t move.  So I had to stop.”

He then explains what happened to him last night.  “Basically I stuck it out the first 12 hours.  It was really bad, it was really hard on me.  I am a runner who can run well under good conditions.  Variables are if I am like too cold if I don’t have food, or even if I get too hot.  I suffer tremendously.  I don’t have the ability to get through those things very well.  From my past experiences.”

“Yesterday running for 12 1/2 hours, with completely soaking wet, and freezing hands and feet.  I came down with a fever this morning.  I couldn’t run.  My immune system is just really trashed. ”

“I put in 20 miles in about 5 hours, and I was feverish.  I knew I just had to go to sleep. I didn’t want to stop I just went to sleep for the last 2 hours, and now, I feel great.”

“I am really fascinated with the Sri Chinmoy races, and what is the greater purpose behind these events.  It is self exploration.  I don’t think I understand at a level that others who do these races, what transcendence means.  Part of me wants to give up in the 6 day right now.  What gives me motivation right now is to see people who don’t stop.  They will sleep and rest a minimal amount because they have a goal of not just reaching a certain mileage distance.  They want to reach a state of being, a state of existence.  I haven’t allowed myself to try and experience that yet.  When I get really tired and uncomfortable I kind of give up.  It troubles me a lot.  It is a struggle that I am dealing with right now.”

“Under all odds is what I like to succeed at.  Right now the 6 day is something that I want to enjoy and I don’t want to suffer too much because I am hoping I will learn from the experience, and I will be able to come back and give it a real good shot in the future.  Right now it is kind of damage control.  I don’t want to be too miserable where I say never again.”

“I figured I would have success if I could run about 400 miles, that is about 67 miles a day.  I felt it would be hard but not too difficult.  The first day really wore me done.  I wish it hadn’t happened on the first day.”

“You guys give me a lot of inspiration, but this here is a different sport than what I am used to.  A 100 mile run is like a sprint compared to this.”

Click to play interview

Kaneenika and Sarah are still battling in the 10 day.

A film crew has been following Ashprihanl for several days now even since before he started running yesterday.  The director of the film is Mika Tannila and I had a chance to ask him what he is trying to accomplish.

“As many times when making films you don’t know the story, you don’t know exactly what you are trying to do or prove with the film.  So it is an experiment and adventure for us as well.  We have been shooting and this is now the 3rd day.  It started one day before the race.  It is very interesting to work with Ashprihanal.

I am so fascinated with his career, him as a persona, his character.  The tone and mood of the film is very dependent on how the race will be for him.”

He first got interested in ultra races about 2 years ago.  He was curious as to what the spiritual idea was behind it.  “Because if you talk about a 10 race, 6 day race, the first question is, What is the point? So I got interested in the spiritual and let’s say the intellectual side of this event.”

He says that despite his incredible record of accomplishments very few in Finland have heard of Ashprihanal.  He suggests that most people there are looking at quick events like Basketball and hockey which he describes as entertaining.  “This is not entertainment.”

“I am totally flabbergasted, overwhelmed about the whole thing.  It was a nasty bad thing when it rained when the 6 day started.  It kept on raining so much last night.  I am trying to figure out myself what is the value, the meaning of this kind of event, in a larger scale, for let’s say human kind, human race.  I think this kind of thing has strong symbolic value.  I feel it is not about who is the winner and what is the exact result.  It is also a kind of meditation.  This film is trying to go into the mind of an ultra runner.”

Click to play interview

On Monday afternoon I come back to the race and find William Sichel’s helper, Alan Young busy writing down information.  He says, “this is a record of everything he has eaten and drank.  It has his mileage splits and all the rest of it.  What we discovered 4 or 5 years back was a lot we learned.  The joke is we went from mouthfuls to milliliters.

Well I have been doing this since 2004, my worst was probably a 6 day in Monaco, where for 3 days it rained.  But it wasn’t as cold and as windy as it was here.  It was a very very tough night to stay out.  There is no bad weather there is only poor clothing.”

He says William was not set back by the conditions last night.  “It would have been worse if it had been day 4 or 5.”

“It has been a very hard start but we just grind away.  Take every day every lap as it comes.  We are here to enjoy ourselves, and watch, and look, and perhaps learn as well.”

Click to play interview

In the outer world
Willingness to learn
Is a good start.

In the inner world
Willingness to learn
Is a splendid victory.

One should always be challenged to break records and as a rule they all, no matter how grand, are expected to fall to each new generation.  The Scottish 6 day record however has proven to be so far out of reach, beyond  more than most could ever have imagined.  In fact it is now the longest standing Scottish sporting record in that nations history, and as a matter of fact, it was set right here in New York city.  It turns out that in 1882 pedestrianism was an enormously popular sport.  At that time a Scottish man named George Cameron, who called himself Noremac (Cameron backwards), was doing well at races both in the UK and America.  It was at a race at Madison Square Garden in October of that year that he established his historical record of 567 miles.

William has gotten o so painfully close with his own personal best of 518 miles road (532 miles track) but it has stubbornly refused to willing fall beneath his relentless running feet.  His respect for the record runs deep and it is not impossible to imagine that he has done everything humanly possible to make his own new mark.

Yesterday both he and  Allan went into Manhattan yesterday to visit where the old Madison Square Garden once stood and bid their respects to the sacred ground where Scottish sporting history reached a new peak.

The winds have picked up today here at Flushing Meadow and the rain comes in bursts and whips around the course.  It really looks very much like a Scottish day of course.  It may not be a great day for starting a 6 day race but at least it is conditions that William is used to.

He looks calm and relaxed and his friend Allan is taking away all the burdens of the little details that can slow an athlete down a step.  All William has to do is run his very best and just maybe make his own new mark for other Scottish runners to look up to.  Set it just out of reach down the road, and then they can catch it for themselves, when their legs and hearts are really ready for it.

Nobody has forgotten the 10 day runners, but for a busy hour or so they had to dodge and weave their way around the new kids to the neighborhood.  Sahishnu introduced all the runners and gave words of encouragement for all who are going to work so hard here for the next 6 days.

Click to Play Intros 1 & 2

“I can’t believe I am here.  I was just thinking that this was my 33rd multi day, and I must have started a lot of them in the rain, so I am trying to go back there and look at the positive.”Dipali Laughs

There is a very deep field in the race this year in both the men and the women, and I ask if she is affected by this.  “You have to do your own race.  At the same time the men’s race is going to be really exciting.  I really look forward to it.  I really feel that if the standard is high, than everybody pulls each other.  It is hard to explain multi day to everybody.  We are competing but you really just have to do your own event.  I really do see some really great runners out here today.”

“Ashprihanal and I have a friendly little game out here.  We are like real brother and sister, I must say.  Last year he beat me by a mile, that rascal.  In the last hour he passed me and he enjoyed that very much.  I was kind of laughing.  Multi day is competitive but there is a lot of friendship out here.  There is a lot of camaraderie.  We are all trying to do our best.”

“I am really inspired by that board.  I think those men are going to give us a great race, and I am going to be in there with them, because I think it is going to be fun.”

Click to play interview

In one of those amazing coincidences of the race, 3 first time runners have found their tables besides one of the most experienced in the field, William Sichel.  They all feel greatly honored and hope to pick up a few tips, if not from William, who won’t be there much but certainly from his helper Allan.

I ask Francesco how he is feeling.  “I am wondering too what is going on.  Actually I am kind of scared because I feel Okay.  I don’t realize really what is going on.  Definitely that is good somehow.”

Last time I saw Satyamurthi he was just finishing the 47 mile race.  He says, “the distance is different but the spirit is the same  To be part of something greater than us.”

Roger is a 56 year old runner from Wickham Quebec, “I am grateful to be with guys who have the same inspiration as me.  I am so lucky to be near William Sichel.  I am happy to be with all the guys trying to do their best.”

Click to play interview

It is just starting to get busy in medical.

Occupancy at the food tent just gone up 100% but Nipura and her crew have easily made the adjustment.  She is keeping a close watch on the weather in order to adjust her menu for optimum performance.

Rajpal will be fixing continually things until they all have to be put away again until next year.

A whole new crew has started counting just the 6 day runners.

Bigalita has been here a while but Daria has started just today.

Bigalita has 155 miles after 4 days on the course.  Daria ran 522 miles in the 10 day last year so the 6 day is a new event for her.

“Most years I go either to crew or help.”  Allan has a long history with ultra running and as well the 24 hour race held each year held in Tooting Bec.  “When I ran in 93 it was in October, it was cold and it was lovely.”

“William comes from a very small island in Scotland, the Orkneys.  I ran until 1996.  Had a back injury and stopped running.  Advised to rest for a year.  My bosses suggest I concentrate on proper career not on my running career.  So I did nothing in the sport until 2004.”  At which time he first found himself helping crew for William in a 46 mile race.

“I didn’t know how serious he was. “  By 2005 William asked him again and because he had taken an early retirement from his job he was more than ready to help.  “I never thought I would make a spectator.  But I enjoyed the preparation, I enjoyed the spread sheets, the planning, keeping the data. ”

“I have to make his food, I have to make his drinks.  You have to give him data.  You must have a plan. ”

“We were at Madison Square Garden yesterday because in 1882 at the peds, a Scotsman came in 2nd and set the Scottish record.  Which still stands, 913 km. He got $2,000, that is 7.5 million dollars today.  The joke is that I do this for.  (rubs forefingers.)  I am in for 15% of the prize money.”

“I don’t do it for money that is the joke. ”
Click to play interview

“This was my pilgrimage to pay my respects to George Noremac.” As William relates his experience of visiting what was once the site where the Scotish 6 day record 130 years ago was set,  you can see clearly what it means to him.

“First time in New York, first for everything.  I was really inspired by what happened there all those years ago, and feel part of history.  Hopefully I am part of that history.  I am very interested in the history of the sport.  Where we came from and how we came to be here. ”

“My basic plan is to gain from the experience when I started these races in 2006, and that is to have a repeatable pattern.  That is the way I tend to get the best out of myself, in these very long races.”

“I would say that although I have the organized approach.  On top of that I have a layer of spirituality.  Because I know it all comes down to what is in the mind and in the heart, in these races.  I can have my plan but it is very much dependent upon what is in the heart.  That is the overriding thing for me.”

“In a way you can’t avoid it.  For even if you didn’t know about that, if you weren’t expecting that it comes on to you.  because 144 hours on your own, trudging around something is going to happen. ”

“The best I have done on the road is 518 so 519 would look quite nice.  Then there is always the 567 from 1882.”

Click to play interview

The higher we go, the greater is our responsibility,
The clearer is our vision and the closer we are to the Reality.

This incredibly talented 40 year old Danish runner has never sought after fame or the limelight despite his incredible achievements.  Almost from the moment you hear him speak it is easy to realize that something heart felt and deep within motivates and inspires him to undertake these epic journeys.

When he speaks about the moment he completed his first run he feels that it was not the celebration for him that was significant but more so how people from around the world were drawn together.  “I don’t find any individuals as important, but what we create together is infinitely important.  I was not just one lonely runner approaching the finish line.  That scenario does not hold any value.  For this individual to cross the finish line was not important.”

He describes how one of his sponsors had promised that if he was able to finish the event he would run the final leg with him.  Jesper believes that the man did not really think he would do it.  In fact the man kept his pledge, and despite a lack of training managed to run the final 78 km with Jesper.  “That gave me much more joy than my own accomplishment.”

“I hope most of all that people understand what a peaceful place we live in.  If the world is as dangerous, and hostile, and different, as we see in the evening news.  There is no chance of our survival.”  He explains that when you meet people of the world directly as he does along the way, the true nature of the world becomes vividly apparent.  He feels that it has progressed he says even since the first time he circled the globe.

A few days ago he took a break from his journey after first reaching Boston.  The timing was perfect to then be able to take part in the Self Transcendence 6 day race here in Flushing meadow.  Although being here would be in no way beneficial to physically completing his journey  he feels simply that he was due for an inner recharge.  Be for a short while with a family of runners who do not just share his dreams, but also, in their own way view and experience the world, not just with their eyes, but also with their hearts.

He jokes about what place he will be in at the end of 6 days.

Click to play Interview Pt1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBqLsQjCg6w

On this bright Sunny Saturday many of the 6 day runners are showing up.  Putting up tents, setting out essentials, and doing whatever last minute preparation they must do before the great journey begins tomorrow.  A day in which weather forecasters are not describing as being as cheery as today.  Rimas Jakelaits, a 57 year old runner from Brooklyn was once a regular at these races but has not turned in an appearance since the 10 day in 2006.  “When I ran the 10 day 6 years ago, on the 2nd day I had a problem with my knee and had to go home.  For one day I didn’t run.  After one day rest I came back and won this race.  I ran only 9 days.”

“After this race I ran very very easy.  Every month about 100 miles. But one year ago I started training a little harder.  I feel good.  Before I was a little fat but now I have a good shape.”  He says though that though he feels recovered he is not up to the conditioning he had in 2001 when he ran 901 miles here and set a world record.  This time he says, “my goal is to break the course record of 541 miles.  It is not difficult to run 90 miles nearly every day.”

“When I was young I liked to run fast.  Now I like to run easy, listen to music and to meditate.  To run hard for 6 days is difficult, especially for the mind.”  He is optimistic about his performance but says that if the weather turns cold and wet he may set his goal a little lower and run 80 miles a day instead.  “When the weather gets better I will come back and try more.”

He is also very enthused about the strong field of runners in the race.  “If there are very more good runners it is very good for the result.  Everyone tries and catch everyone else.  It is better for me and better for everybody.”

Click to play interview

Jayasalini gets a little help preparing her tent for possible bad weather.

Last summer Pete Stringer turned 70 and the only thing that ever stops him from coming here with his wife Jane is if the Boston Marathon gets in the way.  Apparently this year a 6 day recovery period is just about right.

Yashasvati Plyavinskaya a 46 year old runner from St. Petersburg Russia is running here for the 4th time.  She is part of a large contingent of Russians who regularly turn up at the race and because of linguistic problems I simply do not get a chance to talk with.  At this moment she is about to head back onto the track and she willingly takes a moment so that Andrei Somov can translate my questions.

“It is like a home for me here, being with family.”  I suggest that it just might be a very hard home to live in and she laughs and says, “Sometimes it is a happy place too.”

“I do not run to set records.”

She describes an experience that just happened, one in which she did not receive her luggage for 2 days.  She was happy and amazed in how friends simply came to her rescue and gave her everything she needed until the bags reappeared.

“I feel that here is not only my family but also something very special happens being here.  It is all simply a miracle.”

Click to play interview

“It needs to brew in your heart and your soul and your brain.”  Jesper explains as best he can why he was inspired to go out once again and run around the world.  He says it wasn’t anything like the story of Forest Gump.   The movie character  is cute and simple but nothing at all how Jesper himself felt inwardly drawn to go out and do it.  He describes that the push to go ahead and do something of this magnitude needs sufficient time to develop and be nurtured inside.  “While you understand it with your logic,  your soul needs to understand and your body needs to understand it.  It has to build itself to be ready.”

“The first one was one year and 10 months now I have been running since the first of July 2008.”  It takes him some time to actually calculate just how long he has been running this time.  As he describes the different legs of his journey his face lights up with pleasure as he recalls the highlights.  So many precious moments almost from the very beginning in Norway and then down through Eastern Europe and then on down through Africa.  When asked whether or not he touched down in Antarctica he says that he is a stubborn Scandinavian and that since there are no roads there he would not have been able to properly cross the continent in its entirety like his other legs.   “If I run on the continent I want to experience the whole continent.”

As he made his way up through South America he says, “then there is one of the reasons that I do the world run.  When you approach the Andes mountain, not like you look from an airplane and than you are there.  It took about one month.  Then you slowly begin to see those small glimpses of snow that is way up in the horizon, and during the month they grow and they grow.  Then suddenly you take the first step of running up through the mountains.”

He describes eventually going through a high pass there that was more of a struggle for his support vehicle than for him.  One of the marvels of the human body is how it is able to adapt.  His 3 weeks of climbing had adequately prepared him for the summit of the pass. “Nature is infinitely stronger than the machinery we can construct.”

A more difficult question causes him to rub his chin.  One that would appear simple, but to the always evolving Jesper Olsen he was now not so certain exactly where his World Run 2 will end.  At one time it was going to be St. Johns Newfoundland.  “To be totally honest.  The run develops as you run.  When you have a challenge you sometimes have to make it relative so that you can overcome it.  What if I run longer than I am supposed to?”  In essence he started and finished his first in the same place.  Now if he finishes in Newfoundland he will still be 3000 miles short of this starting point.

“Now I am getting closer to the finish line.  I know officially it is in Newfoundland.  I should reach it in the middle of July this year.”  To reach his starting point before the weather gets bad is almost impossible.  “It is 500km north of the Arctic circle.”

Click to play pt2

Why run the 6 day race?

“If you ask me this question in a couple of days after it has been raining I will give you an answer in loud Scandinavian words.  Laughs

“For me it works as a mental break from the World Run.  In ultra running the difficult part is with the mind.  It is the mental part not the physical part.  “You get a lot of energy from other runners, and it is a very small community world wide, and being here is a rare chance to meet my colleagues and I definitely do not want to miss it.”

“A 6 day race has a short term finish.  You put in an effort and you see the result.  In the World Run you put in an effort day after day and month after month and year after year, and you do not see any result.  This is a chance for me to get the feeling again.  You run and you get a result.”

He knows that the field is very competitive.  He has no real goal because he just has not idea what his body will be able to do.  “I am really curious, usually I am able to do about 700, 750km, in a 6 day race.  What is the impact of all those miles (I have done)”

On average he runs about a marathon a day but on occasion has run as far as 100 km.  “But on the many, many, many days, where I am tired and not inspired, then I do whatever the body tells me is possible.”

“It is definitely my hope that by participating it will definitely charge my spirit for this run.  That is what is suffering the most at this point.  After 3 or 4 years of running, after 20,000km of running it is like hitting the wall in the marathon.  From one week to the next, bang, it can be suddenly gone.  That light, that energy, that drive that you really want to run.”

“I think anyone who runs as long as we do here, needs in one way or the other has to have a spiritual side.  As they wouldn’t be able to do as they do.”

Click to play pt3

Ananda Lahari finished his 3rd day here with nearly 200 miles.  As someone who has run the 3100 mile race many times he is extremely experienced at multi day races.  The sun however has been a problem today and he is enthusiastic if the weather were to become cooler.  For today Daria gets to play.  Tomorrow her race will start.

“This is all about, it comes from my heart.  My devotion to give something to the runners.  I know how hard they run.  I know they are running for something.  They need some extra help.”

In a far off corner of the race course, Zeferino and his 2 year old son have been standing for several hours holding out a small cardboard box.   From this he has been taking out cups of water and offering the runners as well some Mexican cakes.

It is all done quietly and with such love, that a noisy busy world just might not notice such a sweet and genuinely generous gift, even if happened right in front of their very eyes.  But the runners notice because they too are in their hearts like Zeferino and his small son.

He is a runner himself and has lived in this neighborhood for 10 years and has always been aware of the race when it takes place each year.  Of those who pass by, he says, “I know how they feel.”

Click to play interview

What does God do
By Himself, with His own Heart?
He and His Heart
Together create Smiles
That span His own Vision-Sky.

When you are relentlessly churning out the miles there is no doubt a simple equation that expresses the number of calories needed per mile.  Eat enough and your tank has enough to burn for several hours.  But none of these runners are machines and most are journeying into the farthest most reaches of their capacities.

Utilizing all your available physical strength and summoning endurance that you may never before asked of yourself is just part of the overall formula.  One must be choosy as to which emotional friends you wish to accompany you.  Doubt and fear are always looking for rides and of course never want to ever go forward.  Ultimately the inner exploration will always keep revealing some new mystery and perhaps unveil some wonder that you never knew existed within your own heart.

Good food which is made with love like Niupura’s cooking crew is creating day in and day out is not the answer for everything but it does go a long way in making each runners journey just that much better.  When your hunger goes beyond just carbs, then you will easily see the joy and love that permeates each and every delicious morsel here in the runners kitchen.  It is with this subtle sweet goodness that each runner just might  find an extra step in legs that are unwilling to go on.   Than when you have released that reluctant step, it just might lead in turn to an extra lap, and then the top of the mountain just got a little bit closer.

“I don’t even look at the board.”  Shashanka Karlen if he were inclined to do so just might see some good news for himself right now if he were to look at the board.  This 51 year old Swiss restaurateur is off to a phenomenal start in the 10 day race.

Instead his strategy he says is, “to do my pace, and to do as good as I can.  To be in each moment, each step.”  For many, focusing simply upon yourself is a good plan.  For some even a glance at the mileage board is a distraction and an invitation to enter a mental world that is grudgingly stingy about giving up any encouragement whatsoever.

He started off his first day with 81 miles.  Surprisingly he says, “I didn’t really want it, but it was ideal conditions, and it was almost effortless.  But then of course I paid for it.  Yesterday afternoon was really difficult.  Basically the legs were gone.  I didn’t have any strength to really run.  It was just kind of a shuffle.  Then fortunately this morning it was much better.  Now it is kind of okay, I am just tired.”

“I have decent training but I don’t have the training like Vasu or some of the girls.  They are really well trained.  I had a few weeks of 60, 70 miles.  Then I had one week of more than 100 miles.  I had long runs but not the very very long ones.  (He did one 60 mile run around the 3100 mile course)   At this point we near the board and a voice calls out, “Shashanka, 150 miles.”

He says that last year in the 6 day race he had not really trained but clearly this year he is running well and with confidence.  “I have all kinds of goals.  Inner goals and outer goals.  It would be great to do 60 miles a day, but I don’t know.  I can feel my limitations.  I am trying to make up with my fighting spirit.  You are trying to optimize the moment.  Right now I am a little low.”

Each runner eventually has to confront the mysteries of their sometimes uncertain performances.  When you are flying along at top speed you can safely leave self analysis beside the track.  When you are struggling to even keep the engine idling than sometimes trying to unravel the puzzle of the human body’s performance is hard.

“It is a very very spiritual experience here.  Running is a part but there is so much happening.  I must say that in the last 2 days I have had a lot of really beautiful experiences.  The first one was on the first day when I had about 8 to 10 miles when I was like in a trance state.  It was just flowing, no effort, all beautiful.  It was almost ecstasy.  Yesterday I had a moment where I really felt the creator.  It was just a short moment.  That is something you don’t have every day.”

“There are moments when you really wonder why you are doing it.  And you say, how am I going to survive these 10 days.  Then things change.”  He then describes a typical experience that took place a few laps ago.  He was running with one of the Russians who suggested that he should change his form.  Be more upright, look forward, and most importantly, smile.  “For me it made sense.”

Click to play interview

Teekshanam explaining a little bit about his running performance.  One of Kaneenika’s helpers does some of the important behind the scenes work.

“Today has just been messy.  Like when you try and get into a rhythm, and you don’t.”  Nishima at the moment I joined her was simply not fully into a flow.   It happens to everyone out here and some times it is best to let time and the miles sort things out.

She is now well into her 3rd day and it may be because she wore too big a shoe on her first day and got blisters that she is now paying an unwanted price.  “It was a new learning experience.  A new one to add to the list.”

It has been 2 years since she was last here so in terms of multi day experience this 53 year old Kiwi is still new to the event.  At her earlier race she thinks she wore too small a shoe on her first day.”  She tells me that everyone’s feet expand after a day or so into the race.  Her first day total matches the 68 miles she did in her earlier race.  She received some advice about some nagging injuries which has proven successful.  Simply walk the injury away.  “On the second day, I was able to run straight away, they had gone.”

“I am on target for what I want to do, but it is just a difficult day.”  The ultimate solution.  “It is learning to go into your heart.  That is what I have to work a little harder on.  As soon as you struggle with something, usually it is your mind, somebody can pull you out of it just by coming around.  Suddenly you are immediately out of it.  Then everything becomes easier.”

“I am very much aware that if I can’t get to 60 each day that I shouldn’t push it.”  If she is able to maintain that number she would easily surpass the 521 she ran last time.  “It would definitely be transcendence.  If I could do that I would be very very grateful.”

Click to play interview

“We have got a really amazing team of workers.”  Nipura for the first time is organizing the camp kitchen and she and her group are really doing a terrific job.  How they manage to prepare and serve such superb items in a temporarily constructed kitchen is nothing short of miraculous.  “We are catering for the 6 and 10 day race.  We have been cooking up a storm.”  She then recites a lengthy list of food items served not only at different times of the day but also in response to various weather conditions.

Her own day starts a little after 7 each morning here and concludes sometime each night.  She was not specific but one could only imagine that it was late.  “It is a really beautiful thing.”

“Catering for runners is so different because they are aspiring humanity.  Honestly they are just amazing.  They go for hours and hours and what we do is so small really in comparison.  I have to say that the 10 day race has been manageable.  Now I am getting ready for the 6 day start.”

Her crew consists of 3 girls from Europe.  Maria from Hamburg poses with her world famous strudel.  “It started 3 years ago at the 3100 mile race when I was asked to do something special from Germany.”

Harikanta next to her is from Moscow.  Nipura exclaims, “she has made the most beautiful borscht today, and it has been super popular.  “The most amazing thing is that it became popular not with the Russians but with the other people.”

Eva from Slovakia is the final member of the group and Nipura continues with her praise.  Eva describes an experience once when she was cooking in Halifax.  A customer came into the kitchen there and told her how much that she appreciated not just her food but also the joy and love that she had added to it as well.  “It was a very very nice experience for me.”

Harikanta concludes with, “I want to thank Nipura.  She is a great leader of this kitchen.  She is so kind, so compassionate, so tolerant.  That is why we are happy.”

Nipura adds, “these girls are wonderful.   They are the dream team from heaven.”

Click to play Kitchen tour

Yuri shows me that he is taking a short break.

This is Andrey Andreev’s 6th multi day race.  His break involves some foot maintenance.  He is currently in 10 place amongst the men.  He finished last year this same race with 577 miles.

The medical tent is just beginning to find some clients.  As more and more hard miles come the stream of bodies to the beds there will increase.  It will be those looking for massage and comfort.  Yesterday Renat spent more time playing his flute than fixing bodies.  Today it is a different story.

Click to play music

Just 10 miles back Sarah continues to press Kaneenika for the lead.  Both girls are having an extraordinary race, and are respectfully 3rd and 4th overall.

Nirbili just spent part of a lap with Sarah and is having her own terrific race as always.

Kaneenika is running extraordinarily well.  She has a 2 day total of 167 miles.

4 years ago Malya Rongits a 34 year old runner from Budapest ran 277 miles in the 6 day race here.   Asked why now the 10 day race, “self transcendence should be attempted.” His 2 day total is 112 miles but right now he is trying to sort out an upset stomach.

About the race he says, “It is everything.  It is tough, it is spiritual.  Your body wants to rest but you do not let your body rest.  You force the body to walk on and on.  It is a real challenge.”

Of his previous race, “afterwards I lived in so much peace, purity, and light inwardly.  It was a real spiritual adventure.  It was a real spiritual transformation.  It was a challenge for willpower and for the spirit within ourselves.  We have to conquer our weaknesses, our negative mind.”  He confesses that sometimes it simply feels boring, or too hard and too long.  “Then spontaneously we get so much joy and it makes sense again.”

Right now he is really tired.  It appears as though he has been on the track for something like 14 hours.”

Click to play interview

The mountain-top wisdom-light
Is never to be found
Inside the human mind.
It is found only
Inside the divine heart.

At 46 she should be at her peak but instead this race represents a comeback for this lady from Vienna. The past 10 years have been much tougher than the 10 days now slipping comfortably away beneath her relentless strides.  Over that long decade injury made it impossible for her to compete in any distance events at all.  She says now though, ” I could never get rid of the running world.  I always loved the long distance running.  But because of injury I couldn’t do what I wanted to do.  But after many experiences.  I decided just to do it any way.  Doesn’t mater what.  Just to be ready and see if I still belong to the long distance world.  Why not”

From 1995 until 2002 Nidhruvi appeared regularly at the races here.  Her accomplishments at events above 6 days are extraordinary and yet now she runs with quite a different perspective.  Those long lean years that must have at times felt like an eternity are now clearly over.  “I am just grateful grateful, from the very depths of my heart.”

As this picture of the board was taken in the late afternoon it is difficult to calculate exactly what the runners totals are for the first 24 hours.  As there are many days of running still ahead it is still quite clear that both Vasu for the men and Kaneenika for the women are going to remain significant contenders.

“It is all grace,” says Vasu Duzhiy who is setting a blistering pace in his first 10 day race.  This 47 year old runner from St. Petersburg Russia has his sites really set on an even more challenging event, The Self Transcendence 3100 mile race.  This race he tells me is simply a preparation for that one and perhaps simply demonstrate that he has the capacity for the ultimate in multi day running races.

He has run the 6 day race previously and I ask him a not so brilliant question.  Is the 10 day race harder than the 6 day, “I don’t know yet, it is only the 2nd day.  I am trying to do my best.”

He tells me that he does not have any strategy or plans on how to run the race.  He did take a 4 hour rest break last night but simply will continue to run until he is inspired to break.  “I have no plan my soul has a plan.”

Sometimes companionship takes precedent over fast pacing.

During the night Sarah had the lead but at least for now it is in kaneenika’s hands.

While I am there this afternoon Elena Kareva has a little celebration with her crew as she completes 100 miles.

“The main thing is to have fun and be with my family.  If I could do a good job on the field that would be okay too.” For 51 year old Michel Guoin the 10 day race has become a yearly tradition.  They have come and taken part in the race 5 years in a row.  It is amazing to see how his son Tommy has grown so much in that time and one cannot help but wonder how many other families could be so dedicated to such a difficult undertaking and yet they all seem to thrive here and in fact in many ways become part of a much larger family as well.

In this interval Michel has never lost sight of bettering his personal best that he achieved on his very first year.  A goal that up until now has remained illusive but one in which he has yet to come close to giving up on.  Perhaps there is more important and less defined experience that is fulfilling and inspiring the family to come back so often over the years.

He tells me that for the last 2 years in a row he has caught a bad cold which has been a real problem with his chances of running at his very best.  He tells me now, “I am well prepared for the race and I think it will be a great race.” One thing he has done differently this year he says is simply to try and rest more before coming and yet still keep up the intensity of his training.

When I ask him why run the 10 day race instead of the 6 he tells me that whenever he goes somewhere he likes to take the longest route.  “The worst part is to get there,” he laughs.  “I do prefer the longest distance.”

His goal he says, “I will try and beat my first race, it was my best one, since coming here.  It was 541 miles.”  His determination is evident, “I will try again and again.”

Although he clearly is prepared to work hard himself he makes sure that his family does not feel obligated to accept the same pressure.  At this moment Tommy has joined us.  “I have told him to relax and visit more, and get his own training in.”

As for Michel’s progress, “I am fine with my totals so far.  I have looked at my stats for the past few years and I have picked the best strategy for me.  Start slow and start steady.”

Click to play interview

The presence and inspiration of Sri Chinmoy, the founder of the marathon team, can be felt here in so many ways.  He came several times a day when the race was going on.  During the race in 2000 he wrote a poem that he dedicated to the event, one which embraced the heights of his philosophy and one that addressed the practical challenge of running night and day.

“I am just speechless because I never thought.  I mean it is just the first day passed, but it is going so well.  I am just so grateful, I don’t know any other word.”  You cannot help but be impressed with her achievement of being able to run here again after such a long time.  In 2002, her last race, she ran 1300 miles in 18 days and 20 hours.  Almost an eternity ago.

Though her injury prevented from physically being able to train and run she says, “I always had hope.  I am person who never gives up.”

“I belong here too.   Yesterday at the start, I mean I never cry, but just before we started, when we had the silent minute.  Tears were rolling down, I couldn’t believe it.  I guess my soul was just so grateful that I could be here.”

Her formula for these events, “too have faith.  Never give up.  Try your best, but don’t kill yourself.  Stay happy, be joyful, and be grateful.”  She also tries to simply offer up each and every step and each and every lap and offer gratitude that she is simply able to do it.  She has no distance goal that she hopes to achieve this time round.  “This for me is the first try after so many years, and I am taking it easier, much easier.  This is my plan, and when the push comes from within to do more, I will do it.”

Before I leave I watch as Nidhruvi completes her first 100 miles.

Click to play interview

There is always hope
For any man
Who can pitifully cry in the morning
And heartily laugh in the evening.