There is another endurance sport going on now that regularly captures a world wide audience of millions. There are 20 teams of 9 members each in the Tour de France this year and since 1903 millions have lined the scenic highways of France to watch. (photo courtesy of Zehnfinger)
Most seem to like the vantage of viewing the race on the steep uphills so that they can observe the riders for just a fraction of a second more, as they make their often painful ascent up a mountain pass. Scott Martin wrote,”To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain…at cycling’s core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn’t matter if your’re sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with home made brownies. If you never confront pain you are missing the essence of the sport. Without pain there is no adversity. Without adversity, no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement. No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy.”
Professional bike racing is of course nothing like the 3100 mile race. The 12 who run here will never receive a yellow jersey, a large endorsement check, or outer acclaim of any kind. They will have pain, they will have adversity, and they will have a joy experience that will resonate within themselves and in their lives for lifetimes to come. All who strive for self-transcendence at first believe it is all their own effort that allows them to proceed. Ultimately they realize that the doer is not themselves at all. It is only with their heart’s surrender that they will succeed.
Tirtha is here this morning after arriving in New York last night from Germany. She says, “I had to come out.” When she arrived last night she says, “I just dropped my bags and came.” She has come for the weekend just to be part of the race first hand. She is now an experienced multi day runner herself and knows something about what it is like to be out running for days and days. She also knows that the 3100 is a much different experience than the 10 day race she has now run twice.
She often used to be in New York at Fathers day and so on many occasions was here when the race had just started. She points to a spot on the sidewalk where she says she used to stand.
God definitely wants you
To be more than a mere spectator.
He wants you to take part
In His Cosmic Drama.
Excerpt from Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 152 by Sri Chinmoy.
Petr is 160 miles ahead of last year. On two occasions this past week he ran the most miles. As he starts day 34 he has run more miles than the riders of the tour de France will 
complete in 21 days. Yesterday I asked Stutisheel if there was any significance to the fact that he had 1970 miles by his name. He smiled and told me he was also born in 1970. Today he tells me that we have all leaped into the future. The number 2036 is by his name. He tells me, “the miles are on the board the experience is here.”
Diganta discusses a foot issue with Elmar.
Petr enjoys meeting all those who enter the little orbit of the race. Because he often bounces a handball he has made friends with several of the players who, particularly on weekends, play on the court that is next to the service road side of the route. “I have very many handball friends over at the corner. One is VJ and one is Bradley.” Petr even played with Bradley after he completed last years race. At that time he gave him a lesson. He tells me that he will give him another lesson as well when he finishes this year.
He is also friends with the man who comes to clean the small park. Conversations with outsiders are often fleeting and it is sometimes just a handful of words that are exchanged but in them real bonds can be made. “I am happy because somebody else is happy.”
There is always movement with the runners. Any pause to walk instead of run feels so fleeting. It can come at the little uphills and be just for a few strides, a turn of the corner, and then in a heart beat the feet are moving again with a shuffling rhythm that is hypnotic, and soothing. One may want silence in the mind but the feet must slap the earth as often as possible.
Petr says he has no timetable, no rigid schedule, no great plan. He listens to his body, to the weather, and to the wind. He is on track now to better his performance from last year. His blue ball bounces and bounces. His foot steps scuff forward across the sidewalk. Around 11 he will go home. In two weeks he will no longer be running here. He will instead be at the hand ball court. His feet will dart this way and that. They will no longer go forward. The blue ball will smack against the vertical wall. His journey here will then be over.
Nikhad has been coming to help at the 3100 mile race since the beginning. He is quiet and clearly cares in a deep and selfless way for the well being of the runners. Even before the runners have pulled themselves out of bed he has gone to where the vans are parked and driven one over to the course.
There are many little small jobs in setting up that probably most people don’t notice much. Unless you are the one who has to pull out boxes, set up tables, and hang up banners, boards, and clocks. It is a job for a patient man which he is. Solid and attentive to the little things that can loom large to a runner on the constant move.
He tells me, “I came to the first 9 races than had a 4 year break.” The first race of the 9 was the original 2700 mile race. His interest in this race came out of his own experiences as a multi day runner himself. Now injuries prevent him from continuing to run but his heart is clearly still in the sport. “The energy on this loop is amazing.” He describes the runners as being almost in a trance as they run here. Albeit one in which their hearts are having a deep and powerful experience. For him, after he has down all the little things he needs to do each day, the one thing he enjoys most is making another person smile.
Tirtha has been running back and forth along the Jamaica High School side of the course for some time this morning. In a moment she will practice songs with Paree’s group. She has set up a busy schedule during her short stay that also includes counting laps in the afternoon and performing music for the runners. Since it has only been a few hours she feels she is not yet immersed into what she describes as the 3100 mile race family.
She points to a smiling Vlady as he runs by and with admiration says, “he looks so happy. It is fantastic. I am so glad to see him here.” She admits that for herself she does not yet feel fully recovered from her effort in May during the 10 day race. “My legs are still tired.” During her race she averaged 51 miles a day and knows better than most how hard it must be for all of the runners here.
Around 7:30 this morning a bell rings. Nikhad shouts out. “2000 miles, Diganta has 2000 miles.” Diganta smiles just a little, grabs a glass of water and does not even slow down as he moves on past the counting tables.
O my mind,
Do not remain anymore
A spirituality-spectator,
But become
A spirituality-participant!
Excerpt from Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 1 by Sri Chinmoy.