“I love it, of course I always loved it when they would sing when I was running.” Sunday morning I caught up with Suprabha after she had been singing with the Enthusiasm Awakeners singing group. “It brightens the morning for the runners.”
Suprabha has a phenomenal history here at the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race. She ran and completed the first 13 races accumulating a total of 40,300 miles on the course. Then if you add the first 2,700 mile race in 1996, well you can do the math. The circumference of the earth is just 24,901 miles.
Asked if she had any doubts going into that first big race. “I guess I never ever thought whether or not it was possible to do it. I had enough inspiration and direction from Sri Chinmoy. He taught how to do one step at a time, one hour at a time, one day at a time.”
Interviewed during her 10th race in 2006, she said, “There are always new surprises in each race.” She took delight in the sheer volume of miles she was collecting over her many, many ultra races.
Ted Corbitt in 2005 was amazed that she kept coming back to the race. “It is amazing, just amazing.”
Suprabha, besides singing with the girls singing group, had also done a couple of shifts counting. “I felt I was here to be part of the race again. It invokes all kinds of feelings. That this is really my home and once you come back it feels as though you never left. I just felt the power of the race.”
She says that for her to be at the race, “This is real life, and this is Sri Chinmoy’s world. Everything else is kind of an illusion.”
My heart runs
The world’s longest race,
And not my mind.
My Lord runs ahead of me;
My breath runs behind.
6 August 2005
New York
Sri Chinmoy, My Race-Prayers, part 2, Agni Press, 2006
The Board at the Start of Day 37…*Note the totals may not be accurate…. The magic number is 2,145 *
Showers will come and go throughout the day
Vajra working on Kobi under cover
Surasa aarrives
Paramartha sets up counting tables
Clock
William at his table
Kaneenika arrives
Smarana at his table
Start of Day 37
Wet early
Vasu ran 69 miles
He now has 2487 miles
He leads Kobi now by 62 miles
With Alexei
Flower
Kamaneeya counting
Kobi ran 68 miles
He now has 2425 miles
A great achievement
Flower
Ushika ran 65 miles
He now has 2202 miles
With Max
flower
Sopan did 60 miles
He now has 2178 miles. He is 24 miles behind Ushika
A little pebble in shoe problem
Flower
Surasa did 61 miles
She now has 2164 miles
Running well
Flower
Kaneenika ran 60 miles
She now has 2130 miles
She is now just 15 miles behind the magic number
With Kanala and Leelavatee
Flower
Konstantin pouring water
William ran 57 miles
He now has 2048 miles
Tarit leaves this afternoon
Day 37
Alan ready
Flower
Smarana did 64 miles
He now has 2048 miles
Flower
Laila goes over the poem with Konstantin
Ananda-Lahari did 44 miles
He now has 1977 miles
Flower
Swamiji
Taking a dog break
“I just love playing basketball with the boys, but when my blood sugar is down, I just have to stop and eat some carbs.”
Poem of the Day read by Konstantin
Click to Play:
After a great quest the lost dog has been returned to the owner. All credit to Parvati’s perseverance.
Enthusiasm Awakeners
Click to Play:
The real life
Begins with
An inner cry.
A TRUE INSPIRATION and EXAMPLE for SO MANY of us… can’t grasp what Suprabha has done in the world of ultrarunning and a perfect instrument of the Supreme becoming…
Gratefully for the video.
I have always thought that Suprabha has set — by example — the lofty standards of this race.
One would almost think that you’d have to be the strongest, most muscular, intense person in the world to complete this race. But she has PROVED beyond a doubt that it is sweetness, soulfulness, gratefulness and peacefulness that is the most powerful and enduring of qualities.
As Jayasalini (the hero 3100 Mile runner herself!) says we cannot grasp what Suprabha has done or the world of ultrarunning — and indeed for the world consciousness.
Great to see Ted Corbitt in your video! Thanks Utpal!
So so so beautiful! True inspiration – thank you for this piece of jewel Utpal!