The day begins with the course bathed with soft golden light. The air is sweet, light and cool, in other words it is a perfect day for running long and far. Shortly after the race starts I will spend time with Push tookar who is running here for his second year. At one point he will recount what it was like 10 days earlier when America was celebrating its Independence day on July 4th. He will admit that in the beginning of his trips to the U.S, that he had very little understanding or real appreciation of America, which is so much more different than the tranquil ordered world of his home in Switzerland.
There is only one American running the race and that is Suprabha. All of the 11 others come from distant places across Europe and also Australia. Pushkar will tell me of a special moment when he came to feel in his heart a real appreciation for America that had taken a long time to develop. For these runners who have traveled so far the only glimpse of America that they are able to have or even have time to appreciate is this hard half mile block in Queens. They do not get to see the purple mountains majesty, the fruited plains, or the amber waves of grain. For almost two months this is their world, and other than a microscopic commute to and from from the course, they see nothing else of this vast country.
There is a daily flood of cars sweeping to and fro nearby and many come to the nearby fields for sports, and school, and all kinds of other recreation. None of these runners could be enticed from this block no matter how grand and scenic the vistas they might be offered. Some individuals might claim that there are countless better locations for the race to take place but still it happens here. The truth is probably that it could not ever take place in any other location because in some mysterious way this is the home of the 3100 and there can be no other. Sri Chinmoy created it and placed it here and here it shall remain.
In the early 19th century there was a visitor to America named Alexis de Tocqueville. He came at a time when there was no motel 6, JFK airport, or really very many visitors of any kind at all. He was considered a great observer of the young nation and wrote two significant books on the American experience. He would say of America many deep and insightful things. “America is great because she is good.” He also wrote, “Life is to be entered upon with courage.” If there are more courageous individuals than those who run here I do not know who they might be.
There is a unique and deep inner experience that is to be found here. The runners all have their roots so far away and yet for a short but significant part of their lives they live it here on four inter-twined American streets. Their hearts may be traversing the inner worlds but their feet are not. Sri Chinmoy once wrote:
Hope discovered America.
America has discovered promise.
Promise will discover Fulfilment supreme
In Perfection divine.
Excerpt from Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 5 by Sri Chinmoy.
It is not a big news item but it was nice to see Diganta arriving by bicycle this morning and not walking. Waiting for him every morning on his table is a special alkaline drink prepared by Elmar. Diganta is also nearly 100 miles ahead of last year and is keenly interested in the new Harry Potter film opening tomorrow. He has been listening to the series on talking books for quite some time.
Pranjal is one of the first to arrive and this morning has a few precious minutes to take it easy. He is nearly 40 miles ahead of last year’s pace. He is reading the only thing that any of the runners read and that is the lap sheets that Sahishnu prints off from the totals taken the night before. Pranjal has been steadily running a little over 64 miles each day.
In what has to be one of the most impressive comebacks in the race history if not certainly in his own running life Asprihanal is once more back in fine form. From a day in which he could barely stand he came back to the race yesterday clearly rejuvenated and ran more than 63 miles yesterday. Today he shows almost no signs of the complaints that had plagued him just 2 days prior. One of the medical people who has helped at the race calls it a miracle. The Flying Finn has regained his winged feet once more.
The story of Pushkar Mullauer at this race is just about as compelling an experience as they come. A year ago when he first came to the race at this same time he was teetering along and in many ways just trying to survive. His chances of finishing the race last year slipped further and further away with each low mileage day he put in. It was an incredibly difficult experience and yet he continued to endure and try his best for 48 grueling days.
This year is a diametrically different experience. He is running well and though he is in 6th place the difference between himself and 4th place is just 6 miles. His name Pushkar means blue lotus and there is a sweetness about him that is in stark contrast to the grit, courage, and power that he demonstrating with every 60 plus mile day he puts in.
He tells me, “Last year I was in the race but in 2009 I actually get to say what it means to be in the race. In this race you have to run all the way otherwise you will not reach your goal. This year I can do this. I am very grateful about that.” He feels that the major change between the runner he was last year and this is simply his attitude has changed. “This year I am more humble. I am grateful for every lap that I can run. I try always to refresh the happiness of running. I love running.”
He is also focused on the experience in a much different way. He tells each of his counters not to tell him his mileage. For him this allows his mind to stay focused much easier.
I will ask why come to such a difficult place and do this race and he says, “Because I have an inner urge. My feeling is that if you feel something deep within, you have to do that, to find real happiness. If you don’t do that and listen to your inner voice.” He feels that we if do not pay attention or answer this call of our inner selves then the voice becomes weaker until we can no longer hear it at all. Thus a golden opportunity just slips away from our lives. “If you listen to this voice then you get tremendous joy.” By listening and responding to this voice we not only do the right thing we also gain confidence that our lives are proceeding as they are supposed to. It give us he says, “real peace and real happiness.” He says that he is not focusing on any bad experiences but simply tries to release them as they come along. He has experienced he says many moments of tremendous joy which is always combined with gratitude. He says humbly, “I feel honored to be part of these few chosen ones, those that have the inner hunger to run it.”
We then shift the topic to casual sweet experiences. He tells me that back on the 3rd of July his mind was being very silly. He says, “My mind was bothering me like anything.’ He laughs as he recounts now, but for a time as he looked at people that day he felt less than appreciation for the American way of life. “For me growing up in Switzerland there were so many things here that were not understandable. “On that day my mind was really bothering me.” He says that eventually he got through the experience.
On the 4th of July however he went through an amazing transformation. Parvati’s singers were singing ‘America the Beautiful,’ and a line from the song just completely touched his heart. He says, “somehow it touched me so deep, that from that moment on I just saw the good things of America. I don’t know why but it was really very special for me. It was a nice experience I liked it very much.”Pushkar interview
The section of America the Beautiful he heard that day.
Words by Katherine Lee Bates
O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
May the infinite beauty
Of America’s soul
Awaken America’s body,
Liberate America’s vital,
Illumine America’s mind,
And feed America’s heart,
To liberate them from
The fetters of ignorance-night.
go Pushkar, you are super