Month: July 2011

It is a place where anything can happen.  The moment you get even the tiniest bit complacent than of course that is precisely the moment you will find yourself being suprised.  Taking any aspect of the race for granted is never recommended at any time, not even up until the very last lap on the last day.  There are never certainties,  not for the runners nor as well for those of us keen observers of all its ebbs and flows.  I like to think that a miracle can happen here in a heartbeat, that in an instant the sleeping giant will awake or the champion can potentially tumble off his peak.

Today however I saw something when I picked up the morning lap sheet that was almost incomprehensible.  I discovered that Sarvagata had run 147 laps yesterday which is the most anyone has done in a day, not only for the race this year, but perhaps even going back a few years.  In human speak he ran 80.63 miles which is 17 more than he had done the day before and 3 laps more than he had done on his previous best day.

It is always troublesome to try and examine the experiences that happen here by attempting to analyze the numbers.  But put into a broader perspective the kind of mileage he covered after being here steadily running already for 29 days is astounding.  I had spent quite a bit of time with him yesterday and not for a moment did he indicate he was about to blow the doors of the barn.  It was only after I stopped running with him and started puffing on the sidelines that I realized that he was running really fast for a multi day runner.  He is a quiet and serious guy at the best of times.  He feels a deep spiritual, if not mystical connection to the 3100 that defies any typical sport page breakdown.

This morning he tells me that yesterday he woke up in a very good mood and had a number in his mind.  He felt that he could accomplish 150 laps by the end of the day.  He seems more than a little disappointed now as he discuses the previous days events.  “I was very close actually.”  He then describes how he believes the reason that he was unable to accomplish this tremendous goal was simply because at some point during the day he got into a bad mood.  Sunday of course there are many pedestrians moving here and there along the course and at some point he got frustrated by traffic of human bodies.  “This blocked everything.”

“It usually happens if you are in a wrong consciousness.  Then the right consciousness can’t come through.”  This is a place where every feeling, either good or bad can be amplified out of their usual proportions, by all the stress and intensity of the race.  Unless you happen to be a saint than it is difficult to stay in good mood even for an entire day little alone accomplish this thing without interruption for 2 months.  When asked if he will try again today, he answers, “I don’t know.”

A moment later I ask Stutisheel what running 147 laps actually means.  “Well frankly speaking, it is hard as well for me to understand what that number means.  Because it is just beyond.”  He tells me that this kind of level of running the race hadn’t seen since Madhupran set the course record here in 2005.  “It is extra, extra, extra, extraordinary.  Although Sarvagata is quite a silent runner.  I do admire his style, his everything.  He is doing a great thing. These things are possible only from extra blessings from above, and of course receptivity of some runners.”

click to play interview

[audio:http://perfectionjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sarvagata1.mp3|titles=sarvagata]

Continue reading “July 11: Just Beyond”

This morning after I left the race I went for a run nearby in a local park.  Quite by accident I happened to pick up a fragment of conversation that 2 runners were having as they passed by me going in the opposite direction.  What I heard one of them say was, “If I could kill my enemies, the whole world would have more peace.” For some reason those few words crept into a little corner of my mind and just refused to vacate the premises.

The first reasonable thought that occurred to me was that the man was probably joking, and by some grand stretch of the imagination, and put into some more benign context, might actually have been just a small part of a grander and funnier narrative.  In isolation of course it wasn’t, it was just spooky.   It would be hard to imagine, no matter the scenario, that the man if he were to carry this out have any satisfaction whatsoever let alone there being more tranquility on a global level.

What occurred to me after digesting these observations was that for most of us, it is the tiny things that cause us and others to suffer the most frequent pain.  An unkind word aimlessly launched and yet it still finds its trajectory inevitably striking anothers heart.  A careless act that tumbles domino like into a series of cascading calamities.  Or even one of our own negative thoughts that somehow gets imbedded into the fabric of our own fertile imaginations and simply festers and stealth-fully expands.

For Stutisheel however yesterday the tiniest thing that was causing him to suffer unimaginably, was a speck of grit that most of us could probably not see even if you put it right in front of you.  Once it was removed from his eye however, he suddenly felt as though the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders.   He says, “that for 3 days I was crying and crying.”  When I ask if this was figuratively or literally.  “By the 3rd day it was both.”

Continue reading “July 10: This Is How Grace Works”

Every time I try and write a little story about the 3100 mile race I hope to open up the door to some new aspect of the event.  On one level it can be seen as being monotonously repetitive and that nothing new rarely happens.  Fortunately I have observed that it is in the runners themselves that new lights are constantly being switched on and illuminations are being revealed all the time here.  Something which is incredibly significant and personal to each one individually but also something that can move and inspire me as well.

On Friday a local news channel was here and one of the runners told me some of the questions they asked.  Frankly they are probably exactly the same ones that I would use if I only came here only once.  “Why do you do it?  How many pairs of shoes do you wear?  Do you get bored?”  If you are just looking at the Self Transcendence race for just a few minutes as part of endless news cycle there is probably very little else that you can possibly absorb before the conveyor belt shifts your attention to the next new fragment of  fact.

Fortunately the more time you can spend here the more you can begin to see how the runners are being transformed and how they are literally blossoming under the relentless pressure of the event.  In order to even just take part they are each inevitably forced to go within to find the strength and resolve to go forever onwards.  They have no choice.  For us sideline cheerleaders it is always easier to relate to the happy successful moments.  The ones in which it is clear that somebody is doing well and has passed beyond some barrier.

This morning it was clear that Purna Samarpan had clearly had pushed into a new realm in which the actual goal of reaching 3100 miles, after 2 unsuccessful attempts, was for the first time looking attainable.  Yesterday, with just 7 minutes left on the clock before midnight a time in which the course would be closed down for the day he made it to 1500 miles.  He says that in the morning he had talked to Pradeep and told him that he was going to reach 1500 miles.  Pradeep than suggested, “you also might reach it.”  At that moment he would have to run 65 miles or 118 laps in order to do so.  Something he had not been able to do since his very first day at the race, 27 days ago.

Continue reading “July 9: It Should Be Possible”