Month: June 2014

“I am doing so phenomenally well that, I shouldn’t be allowed to be here.”

Over all his long and joyful years of running, Ray Krolewicz has run more miles, gathered more friends and admirers, and found more joy and fulfillment in his life than just about any person you will ever meet.

He has been here on this rugged little track now for 14 days and if the Ray K’ites haven’t come out here at one time or another to run and walk with him, then he has talked with them on the phone, been texted, or he has been sent regularly a thick wad of, ‘Way to Go Ray’ emails.

There is an infectious charm and wit to this bearded, shirtless, wonder from South Carolina.  The exact numbers of runners that he has encouraged, trained, and entertained has never been recorded or made note of.

But even after just a few days out here in this distant corner of Queens there has been a constant trickle of Ray K fans and followers that have thread their way through the 5 boroughs, and numerous nearby states to come and be at his side.  To run, to listen, to maybe get a word or two in, but more to just enjoy being with Ray who is now doing what he likes most to do in life, and that is run.

He makes no bones that by nature he is competitive, but he also wants others to do their best and to also find their own joy.  His is a happy life and he is also one who is generously trying to make a happier world.

Some time today he will pass the 1,000 km mark.  A great point of reckoning for most ultra runners but it is also one that bluntly reminds Ray that there are still another 4,000 unforgiving kilometers still to be endured.  “I am suffering probably less than anyone else in this race.  But also more than I can transcend.”

There is no runner here who does not at one time or another have to confront their perceived limitations.  Whether it be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.  For a few days now Ray has found his pace diminished to something that looks like a shuffle and at other times like a walk.

He is tired, he is hurting, and he knows that it isn’t going to get any easier any time soon.  Why this is so he says, “maybe spirit over physicality.  Maybe I am afraid to dig deep and find out if I can be as cheerful, if I were in more pain.”

“I have been asking myself these questions for several days.  If I were hurting as bad as some of these other runners.  Heh, I have foot pain, I am not using that as an excuse.  I am trying to let some things heal. People say, it takes time. Ok.  If it takes a couple of weeks for guys who have done it before maybe it will take me 3 weeks.

So I am trying to take care of myself.  But would a Ray Krolewicz who has a 1000 miles in and was grumbling, cross, and irritable. Be more of a preference than a Ray Krolewicz who has only 600 miles in and has a smile, a song, and a story to share, each time someone comes by.”

 

A Question that was asked of Sri Chinmoy about his ultra races.

Sri Chinmoy: This creation is not mine. It is God’s creation. Again, I am absolutely sure that God does not want anything that is good to disappear from His creation. Today He has inspired me to serve ultra-distance running. But if He sees that I am not doing well, or if He has had enough experiences in and through me, then He can easily choose another instrument. But I am absolutely sure that God will not ask human beings to give up long-distance running.

“Run and become, become and run” — this is the motto of our Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. Something that is good in God’s creation will always last; it will only make progress. From time to time we may see setbacks, but eventually it is bound to flourish.

Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy answers, part 32, Agni Press, 2002

Continue reading “June 30: The Inner Race”

Matt’s path has brought him here to the race quite a few times over the past 5 years.  He has been to the start of the race at least a couple of times.  But in all the previous occasions he had come out to this little corner of Queens he had never been here at the start of the race on an average day.

A day when it is just 14 groggy runners, a handful of official types, and of course the sun.  Rising magnificently up over the far eastern edge of the great city.

He tells me that he had seen photos of the start of one of those average days. “They uniformly looked very peaceful and beautiful.  I wanted to experience that at least once.”

At precisely 6am as Rupantar calls out, “Go.” Matt takes his own picture of the start with his camera phone.   Then the two of us set of to follow the runners for one full loop at Matt’s pace.  Which is a steady even stride that moves at a pace where he can see and enjoy the world around him.  Not a dawdle and certainly not a sprint, but at a tempo so as to take in and absorb the world around him as much as he can.

And today he sees for himself the distant dawn light spilling across the hard cement rectangle loop.  The little weeds and flowers bathed in light, and all 14 the runners.  Each basked in radiance themselves, now shuffling off in front of us.

Matt is one of those rare sorts of persons who you might perhaps classify as an original adventurer.  It is not a perfect label but it just might stick long enough to get to know him a little better and get some idea of the kind of task that he has set out for himself.  It is one that began close to 2 and half years, and hundreds and hundreds of miles ago.

Back then he decided he would walk on every single street of the 5 boroughs of New York, something that has never been done before.  It is a distance of something like 8,000 miles he reckons, but one that has taken him far longer than he expected.  Which in a way turns out to be its own reward for he wants to see and enjoy the city, the world, and life itself for himself.

He says that we are too often blindly accepting the world around us through somebody else’s interpretation.  So some years back he decided to see it for himself.  He doesn’t call it all some great spiritual or existential quest.

Instead he recognizes that it his life after all.  He could still be a civil engineer that he once was, but being stuck behind a desk, no longer became an option for him, a long time ago.  Many of us dream of all the things we would like to do or accomplish and then there are those who simply get out of the chair and go out the door and do it for themselves.

So Matt has sampled a lot of life over the past few years first hand. He has ridden the length of every track of the New York city sub way system.  Which if you were wondering, you just might be able to accomplish in a little over 24 hours.  He has walked across the country doing about 20 miles a day, and now he is chronicling  his quest to walk down every street in the city, and keep meticulous record of his journey as he goes out walking every day.

Question: When you are running a marathon, are you experiencing suffering?

Sri Chinmoy: I get two kinds of experiences. On the physical, vital and mental planes, I get the experience which you can call suffering. It is an unpleasant feeling. From the beginning to the end, the body is being tortured. Again, there is also the inner experience. I feel that the outer experience which I am going through is something that my Inner Pilot wants me to do, and I surrender the results.

I know it will take me more than four and a half hours. But if I can offer the results to Him, then I am getting a divine experience, the experience of surrender. One experience I am getting on the physical, vital and mental planes, and another experience I am getting on the psychic plane. Whatever I achieve, cheerfully I will give to Him; this is my inner experience. The outer experience that I am getting is torture, right from the beginning to the end, but that also I am offering to Him. Both the inner and the outer experiences I am offering to God, my Inner Pilot.

Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy answers, part 29, Agni Press, 2001

Continue reading “June 29: Experience That”

When musicians come to perform near Thomas Edison high school in Queens NY, they are assured that their audience will be uniquely appreciative of anything that they play.

The audience, if you can ascribe that term to the 14 very weary runners here.   By now they have circled the school nearly 2,000 times each.  After 13 days of almost non stop hyper mobility, their senses are so acutely tuned to this world of theirs, that they often are aware of even the slightest of changes in it.

Theirs is now a delicate awareness of the constant ebb and flow of humanity that swirls back and forth throughout their half mile universe.  And it is not just people than they notice.  They are also acutely sensitive of even the slightest change of weather.  A degree up or down, the air pressure rising or falling, or how the slowly shifting path of the sun  as it arches across the sky.

The brightness of daylight falling away accompanied by the descent of night slowly invokes the promise that the 18 hour day of struggle will at long last end.

The gathering darkness now fully promising that the inevitable hand of midnight will soon appear.  Then it just does, rising up with finality, and with no judgement or remorse.  The day is done and now the reward of 6 hours of full rest has at last arrived.

This highly mobile audience listens therefore intently.  Catching notes carried on breezes from far away.  Sometimes distracted by car horns and all the other rumble and roar of the urban chaos, they can still begin to catch the threads of melody as their steps take them inevitably closer.

Than the entire fabric of music is theirs for quite a few steps.  A full phrase of words, a melody almost intact and then it all drifts away behind them.  Consumed once again to the dull urban thunder of the city noise.

Larisa and Natalia performed for about an hour this morning.  I asked them why they came here to play.  “Our life is the beauty of the heart.  In our heart we can find harmony.  What the runners are doing here they can identify with.  The harmony and beauty of this music can enter into their hearts and can help them to run.”

Larisa says that through oneness with the runners they all can enjoy.  “We can feel optimism, enthusiasm, cheerfulness, and inspiration. We are all together, only oneness.  One heart, one soul, we make one big heart together, this is what I feel.”

Click to Play Interview:

Larisa

Continue reading “June 28: Beauty Of The Heart”

“I hope much better.”  I had just asked Vasu how he was.

It is the kind of polite question we ask most people when we greet them briefly on the street.  The person responds with some idle pleasantries and then in the usual dance of etiquette, they in turn ask after your well being as well.

When really asked how they are, even your dearest closest friend it is not often going to launch off into some long detailed discussion about what is really happening in their life.  Most often the usual answer is, “oh just fine thank you.”

When a runner here at the 3100 is asked how they are, you know that no matter how they respond it will not even come close to including all the painful details of their morning, or their joyous experiences and revelations from the previous evening. So much is intensely experienced here at every moment by the runners, on so many levels, it is nearly impossible to express even a small portion of that experience.

A year ago on this same day Vasu had nearly 60 more miles than he has right now.  An amount equivalent to about a full day of running.  His problems back then if any, were minute compared to the burden he has had to cope with the past few days.

Days in which getting the minimum distance of 110 laps were out of the question.  In fact on one day he made 85 laps and on the next 98 laps and then yesterday.

Painful, difficult, but o so beautiful yesterday he pushed, struggled and prayed his way back up to 111 laps.

If the person you met on the street were given a real opportunity to explain or complain about themselves, most likely, once you got them started they then just might not ever stop.

Vasu isn’t that kind of person.  He does not complain nor does he feel sorry for himself in any way.  “Everybody goes through these difficulties and problems.”  In fact he is quite happy for everything that has happened to him here.

He feels that whatever happens to him here, no matter if is pain or if it is joy. It is all just the Supreme having an experience inside of him.

Sri Chinmoy, Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 83, Agni Press, 1983

Continue reading “June 27: An Experience Inside”

Late one night a few days ago as William was taking the short walk back to the house that he shares with Ray K, he probably enjoyed for at least a brief moment that sweet realization that he had just set his first record here at the race.

It is a feeling he is going to have the opportunity to enjoy many more times as the race progresses.  As a 60 year old male ultra runner he is currently actively engaged  in the process of essentially rewriting just about all the ultra distance records that exist, not just in Scotland, not just in the UK, but also in the World.

But perhaps what is even more marvelous is that many of the records that William Sichel from Sanday Orkney is establishing here in Queens NY, are ones that he is creating for the very first time.

“I have got all the data with me, all the sheets, all the information.  But I have literally no time to look at it.  All I am doing is collecting the times for every 500 km and every 500 miles.  I have official sheets to chart the times.  So I am handing them over to the race referee at the appropriate moment. Then stuffing them in my bag and forgetting about them.”

If there is anything on his mind most days it is simply trying to make sure he runs 110 laps of the course.  (At the start of Day 12 he has 1219 laps)

“As you know, last night I only got to the magic 110 laps at 5 minutes to 12.  After the race I will sort it all out.  The most important thing is to collect the data and preserve it.  Which I do by photographing the sheets.”

“There is no doubt that from now on I will be starting to set a lot of records.”

Last night William completed 10 days on the course and in that time he has 668 miles.  But the almost incomprehensible greater picture of what he still has yet to do he does not really look at.  “My main motivation is the 110 laps every day, that is the magic mark.  That is a pretty big incentive every day.”

If one were to design the ultimate body for a life time of distance running the creator could probably not have come up with a better or more efficient design, for economy of motion, reliable and durable parts, and an engine and drive train.   That when William gets going in a race he doesn’t really like to stop for anything.”

After the great wad of record sheets are pulled out of Williams plastic binder after the race are all scrutinized and analyzed and examined from top to bottom William could be adding something like 70 more records to the 95 records he currently already has.

As for retirement that is simply not part of his plans.   For the 60 year old William Sichel has every intention of continuing to push on out into the uncharted realms of ultra running.

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 10, Agni Press, 1998

 

On June 26th 1985 Sri Chinmoy at age 54 first started his weight lifting by raising a 40 lb dumbbell over his head.  By November 18 of that year he had increased the weight to 155 lbs.

Continue reading “June 26: Travel The Uncharted Land”

“We have to make choices.  The masses of people they are making a choice to live a comfortable and mundane life.”

For the moment we are walking at a gentle pace.  Minutes earlier Swamaji Parameshanandaji of Bharat Sevashram Sangha, had been almost sprinting around the course.  It is not often that he ever moves around the loop other than with intense purposeful strides.  His face always soft, still, and focused.  Perhaps an occasional thought drifting out into the chaos of the mundane world but when he is running he reflects something else, that is poised, quiet, and at peace.

Any morning he is on the loop he does quite a few laps.  I am not sure if he even counts them all this morning or even on any day or on any year that he has come here to run.  He used to live just a few blocks away but now he lives somewhere out on Long Island.  Getting up in the silent darkness of the suburbs and taking a long rumbling bus that takes at least an hour just to be here at 6.  This morning the sun flickers across his orange running clothes.  Shadows cast by high green tree leaves dance across this moving figure.  One seeking to escape from the mundane world as fast as he can.

“Me coming from Long Island I know that being in the atmosphere of the runners.  It is the best satsang.( the company of the highest truth) “Even the ground is charged.  So the energy is coming from the ground and the atmosphere. So how can we better  live our lives.  Enjoy it, and at the same time move towards our salvation.  This is where we have to be very conscious about it.  This consciousness is in harmony with divine consciousness. I want to be part of that consciousness. I want to just merge into that consciousness.”

“This is a beautiful example.  By running here I am exerting my body.  After some time the mind is sublimated.  Because you can’t be thinking thinking all the time.  If you think of the same thing all the time it makes you mentally tired.”  He suggests that once the mind is quieted you are then able to release a surge of energy.  Once you are no longer caught up in your thoughts.

As to how he has ended up being here, “being at the right place, at the right time and meeting the right people is God’s grace.”  He feels that this capacity to recognize these precious and pivotal moments in our lives is one we all should try and develop.  “I take full advantage of it.  That is wisdom.”

As to why there are not more out here to experience this transformative  atmosphere, “they are not ready.”  Each person is moving at their own pace towards the goal.  “We have to respect them for that.”  We can pray that more people find inspiration but he adds, “that is the way it was meant to be.”

He said it is great spiritual figures like Christ, Krishna and Sri Chinmoy, that stimulate that world to seek out the higher parts of themselves.

“Everybody who is part of this team is going to get the benefit from the sacrifices that they make.  This is so beautiful.”

Click to Play Interview:

Swami

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 26, Agni Press, 2002

Continue reading “June 25: That Is Wisdom”

“I am trying to keep it simple.  I am going back to the philosophy of my first race, one day at a time. And I have one addition to it.  Yesterday never happened.  Which means it is always today.  Tomorrow will take care of itself.”

Three years ago when Sarvagata entered the race for the first time he had a phenomenal if not unprecedented entry into this epic journey called the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race.  He not only set the new record for a first timer but also came in first, in 44 hours and 13 days.

It was a time that ranked him 5th overall amongst all the great champions who have been victorious here.

In this sacred place where the frailties of human life are regularly dismissed and ignored. In this place where champions like Sarvagata instead cry out for the limitless powers within themselves,  that bright portion of our being not encased in flesh, or concealed in thought, or hidden by the boundaries of our finite world. In this place where your own divinity is revealed with each step taken towards the ultimate goal of perfection.

“It was like riding an elevator right to the top.”  His glorious first experience here in 2011 was a thrill not just for Sarvagata but also as well for all who saw in his performance a real miracle unfolding in plain sight of the world.  A hint that perhaps of even greater miracles yet to come.

But just as it does for everyone who runs here, the race provides experiences and lessons that you might not always exactly want or enjoy.  The challenging and transformative experiences experiences that ultimately you still need to have happen to you.  So in 2012 it was a great race for Sarvagata but he says, “sometimes I used the stairs.”  He came in second in 46 days and 3 hours.

“Last year I was learning the plans of the building.” (laughs) “I was learning different ways to go to the top.”

His time of 50 days and 14 hours placed him in 6th place overall.  A position he neither begrudged or made any sign of complaint of.  He holds too dear the experience of running here.  There can never be criticisms or remorse for this most precious and sacred of experiences in his life.  One that cannot be conveniently categorized in any of the ways that we usually like to organize or  to label experiences with.

“That is why I have come back for the 4th time.” He says the experience so far this year has been a combination of taking the express elevator at some times and at others having to take the stairs.

“I am looking around more and looking deeper inside.  So everything is increasing.   It is a good feeling I must say.”

Sri Chinmoy, Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 81, Agni Press, 1983

Continue reading “June 24: Deeper Inside”

“I am just doing something.”  Teekshanam adds, that he is not categorizing his performance so far in the race as neither bad nor good.  “I am just doing something that feels good.  If it feels good than you are okay.”

His is a soft and thoughtful voice, and though he is tall and slender he moves forward with gentle almost silky strides.  Despite all the polite calm and poise he is demonstrating here, there also appears to be a lot more to Teekshanam than meets the eye.

That perhaps just beneath the meticulous and measured exterior is a wealth of inner strength and fortitude like the unreleased power of a silent giant.  That once this power is put into motion and given direction than he can just go on and on, without worry and without complaint.

He was born in Moldova but currently lives and works in Geneva.  He tells me that  his Mom and sister following the race back in Moldova and wants to be sure that his Mom is not worried about him.

After 8 days of running he has managed to make 485 miles.  A terrific number but is also one that he is perhaps only vaguely aware of.   To all the bean counters and statistic takers it is an extraordinarily good performance for a first time runner of this race.  He did 111 laps yesterday, 60 miles.

I question Teekshanam a little more about what it means to feel good.  He has had little sleep and he is just a little less than 2 days from running farther than he has ever run before.

“It feels good from the point of view of the overall experience of what you are trying to do.”

He first heard about the race about 10 years ago, and thought at the time, “this cannot be possible.  But because so many people have done it so many times.” From learning about what others had done he began to see that it just might be something that he could do.  He humbly adds that it might not be something he could even complete on his first or even second attempt.  But given the opportunity of taking part then he would try his best.

“Eventually it is possible.”

As we talk there is a gradually overwhelming crescendo of noise as the siren of police car screams it’s way towards us.

I wonder whether all the noise and quite often confusion created by the ebb and flow of humanity would disturb him.

“You would think so at least at the beginning of the race.  But as the race progresses it becomes part of the experience.  It doesn’t stand out any more.”

As we talk Pranjal rolls past us with his heavy shuffling strides.  Of runners like that who have been here for so many years Teekshanam is in awe.  “It is incredible.”  Runners like Pranjal he describes as being one of the pillars of the race.  “Just to see them doing it, and doing it so perfectly and so unconditionally and also being so willing to help others.  Especially help beginners like myself.  That is real good.”

Many things that would bother many of us when we are trying to run he has to accept, because there is no alternative.  Avoiding children on careening bikes, students on their way going back and forth to school in an adolescent daze.  He has even been asked for directions.  “So you have to explain things to people.”

“You have to let cars go first when they come out of the driveway of the school.  You just do the normal thing that you regularly do.”

“This place is what we make it to be.  If feels different here because it also has such a  history.  So many runners have invested their heart and soul into running on this course.  Sri Chinmoy the founder of the race himself also invested so much personal time and energy into it, to support the runners.”  He describes an aura that exists here.  “It is beautiful to be on this course.”

At this point despite everything, he is simply happy to be part of it and be able to accept all the challenges and opportunities. that have come his way so far.  “I think it is the right thing for me to do at this point in time.”

Click to Play Interview:

Teekshanam

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 40, Agni Press, 2004

Continue reading “June 23: Doing Something”

“When you run this race you open up the world within yourself.  In this race the runner finds out the essence of his place in this world, and you also find out the meaning of your existence for humanity.”

Each of the 14 runners has their own unique and individual way of describing what running 3100 miles means to them.

From the moment Yuri started the race for the first time last year it was clear that each step he ran here on the course was for him part of a sacred pilgrimage.  One, that despite the obvious grinding familiarity of circling the same half mile block of concrete was also revealing something new to him at almost every moment.

Over the years and as well into this one, many of the runners who have been part of this great odyssey would agree at least in some part with Yuri’s words.  Being part of something so difficult simply has to change you in profound and unpredictable ways.

At the same time when you are drifting out past the very limits of human fatigue, and every little bit of your physical existence is racked with pain and suffering, making a grand claim about entering the glowing infinite realm of reality within yourself.  That most likely would not be the first choice the runner would use in describing what is happening to them.  Even if you have the presence of mind to take note of the experience at the time.

What ever the reason that each runner selects as the inspiration to come here and and be part of this journey it has to be a powerful and a good one.  Once they are out there at 6am each day at the starting line than anything and everything can and will happen to them.

If each runner is prepared, fortunate, receptive, or maybe just a lucky recipient of boundless grace then they will cover the complete 3100 miles before the 52 days are up.  Along the way perhaps as well taking new and profound strides towards their own perfection.

Sri Chinmoy, Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 39, Agni Press, 1984

Continue reading “June 22: The World Within”

“It is perfect.  The sun is shining and a runner is running,” says Sopan to me this morning, as he jogs with light shuffling steps beside me.

It is very early on a quiet bright Saturday morning, the 21st of June.  It is a date that smacks of special significance for most of us.  For it is the day with the most hours of sunshine of the entire year. (Southern Hemisphere people you will get your chance again in 6 months time)

But in what has to be a strange irony, just now as the days gradually grow just a little shorter, and offer up less and less of their light, the race itself has barely just begun.  The colossal distance still remainging in front of the 14 runners here feels almost like completing it will take an eternity.

In his first 6 days here, Sopan from Bulgaria has run well.  He has managed to complete 385 miles, which in most runners logs books would be an impressive number.  But when you still have 2800 more miles to go, in the grand scheme of things, for Sopan, as well as all the others, they still have an unbelievably long distance yet to run.

Sopan is a young man, at 33 he is the youngest runner in the race and yet what is even more incredible is that he first ran the race in 2005 and again in 2006.

When he completed the race in 2005 he was just 24 and set a still undefeated mark of being the youngest to ever accomplish this feat.  For good measure he came back the following year, and by running the race in 50 days and 13 hours took more than a full day off his own record.

Now if Sopan had been the sole author of his own life, from those two victorious years until now, no doubt he would have authored a great and glowing adventure for himself.  One whose plot included coming back each and every year and championing the distance, and improving his performance each time.

Give any of us the opportunity to direct the events and course of our lives and than no one would ever write into their script such things as  disappointment, injury, and struggles of any kind.

The mortal in all of us is more than accustomed to suffering and hardship.  It is a condition though that very few of us would deliberately care to seek out, and then ascribe ourselves to rounds of any kind of torment.  I am not trying to describe any of those conditions to Sopan or what happened in any of the times he attempted the race in the intervening years.

But last year he achieved a special kind of victory in that he was able to stay the entire time at the race and managed to complete 2831 miles in 52 days.  A performance that amply demonstrated not just his dedication to the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race,  but also showed just how much heart and courage he really has. To not give up in a situation where clearly completing the full distance was not going to be attainable.

On the sidelines we can clearly see the miles, but runners like Sopan are seeking out something much more significant than just a long tally of numerals on the board.  “I come to make progress here.  This is the reason I came back after last year because I felt I made so much progress inwardly.”

“But there is one thing that drives me to push myself.  I really want to finish at least one more time.  I have waited for so long.”

Sri Chinmoy: Self-discipline is of paramount importance. Self-transcendence comes into existence only by virtue of self-discipline and meditation. In our day-to-day life we like to derive happiness from what we do and from what we are. Here, although outwardly these four runners are completely tired and exhausted, they feel that this is a new way to make themselves happy and to make themselves proud of their own lives.

Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy answers, part 12, Agni Press, 1999

Continue reading “June 21: Make Progress”