Month: July 2018

Kobi Oren, after several thousand miles and 34 days of running continues to surprise and amaze me.  His focused efforts in the hours he is running on the course is always swift and always powerful. At the same time he is able to give a clear and delicate interpretation to the mystical side of the race.  A balance of the inner and outer that is extraordinary for someone who is taking part in the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race for the first time.

“It is hard work.  There are various seconds that I enjoy.  My eldest son arrived recently so with that I had a lot of seconds of joy.  His coming to the race was a very important moment for me.”

Kobi has a quota of mileage he wants to accomplish each day.  Yesterday he ran 66 miles.  “It is very hard to be here.  It is a hard world being here.” At the same time after completing 2300 miles this morning he says the finish line is becoming just a little more clear for him.

He describes that his life has become so immersed in the race that, “I don’t remember what was before.  It is like that I have been here all my life.  So I don’t know what will be after this.  This experience consumes everything.  My entire life is here.  I know that there is a lot of me out there.  But I am not living that now.  So I really don’t know what will happen at the end.  The end is something that I wish for and something that I desire for, but I can’t imagine what will be there the day after.”

“This is more than the here and now.  This event has its own life.  Before the race I thought it was going to be a journey, a quest, a voyage.  Like in mythology when the hero goes to find a golden feather and then he gets the Kingdom.  But now I know that this is something completely different. This is something like a pilgrimage.”

“You need to do things here in a certain manner.  There won’t be any golden feather here.  There won’t be a kingdom.  It is a ritual.  A very very long ritual to find out who you are.”

The Board at the Start of Day 35 *Note the totals may not be accurate…. The magic number is 2,026*

Camp early

Kobi and Vajra

Continue reading “Day 35… My Life Is Here (July 21)”

Kaneenika jokes this morning as she reaches the corner where are interview is to take place.  “It is too bad I couldn’t take a shortcut to avoid you.”

Of course over the past 33 days she has not cut any corners, shirked her responsibilities, or failed in any way to dedicate herself tirelessly to this enormous task she has once again taken upon herself to do.

She tells me that the first hours of the race, “are very hard for me in the morning to get going.”

Kaneenika did 116 laps yesterday an amount that equals 63 miles.  It is her most since day 1 of the race.  At the end of the day her total  was 1945 miles, just 21 miles off the pace.  Asked if she is anyway putting in a special effort to catch up.  She says, “I am just doing what I can.”

“I don’t think I am pushing too much.  I have to stay focused.  I am not pushing to the extent that I am going to hurt myself or anything.”

“I think there is a big part of surrendering here.  Sometimes I feel like, how can I go on.  Then I tell myself just relax, it will come.  That is how it happens here.”  She says that when she does try and push it doesn’t seem to work.  “On other times it feels like someone is pushing me.  That happens only when I really surrender, and let it go.”

“One afternoon I was having a really hard time.  I was passing through the camp and I overheard one of the race directors speaking to another race director.  He was asking if he could go.  The other said, we are okay you can go.”

“So then I said what about me.  Do you need me?  Can I go.”

“He looked at me and said yes.  We need you to go around.  Sri Chinmoy needs you to go around.  After he said that, those words stayed with me.  I was reflecting on them.  I felt so privileged.  More than that, I started feeling gratitude.”

“I felt gratitude everywhere.  In each blade of grass.  In each leaf on the tree.  I was gasping for breath.  The gratitude was pouring down upon me.  So after that I thanked the race director for what he said.”

“Then I realized why we are really here.  This race is not just for us.  It is for the Supreme and it is for humanity.”

The Board at the Start of Day 34…*Note totals may not be accurate… Magic number is 1,966*

Early

A reminder left by Bipin of what the course looks like sometimes in winter

Continue reading “Day 34… Gratitude Everywhere (July 20)”

“I still need to work to get to the finish line.” Vasu’s long endless summer of running is now drawing closer and closer to a sweet conclusion.  Over the last 32 days he has run 2212 miles and so now has less than 900 more to go.

Something, at the pace he is currently running, he may well accomplish in a personal best and will allow him legitimately to be acknowledged as one who has self transcended himself. How he is judged for his extraordinary courage, fortitude, and sweetness is something that we fallible humanity have not the wisdom nor vision to properly assess.   Though I for one am always awed and humbled to be in his presence.

It is with Vasu’s seemingly endless enthusiasm and dedication that I am most impressed with.  When I speak to him about the work he is doing he says, “I get here much more joy and happiness.  Because here it is so nice.  We run here, we are inspired here, and we inspire other people, and they also inspire us.”

“For me alone it is not possible to do this race.  We do it together.  Some do it consciously and some do it unconsciously.”

“The runners here are one family.  We try to inspire each other.  It helps us and it helps everybody.  I think the race this year is very important.  If our consciousness is good we just fly if your consciousness is not so good then we must walk, or sleep, or do something else.  I think we are making progress here.  I think we must make progress inside.  When you are in a good consciousness then you can run easily.”

Vasu feels that any experienced multi day runner should look seriously at taking part in this race.  But their decision should be based on a deep inner feeling that they should participate.

The Board at the Start of Day 33 …*Note the totals may not be accurate… the magic number is 1907*

Early

Continue reading “Day 33… Progress Inside (July 19)”

It is easy to be impressed when someone accomplishes a great achievement.  But it is even more inspiring when you can also become aware of the inner strength of that same person.  The true and most significant qualities that are immeasurable and yet are the most important part of any act of self transcendence.

4 years ago William was miles behind in his quest to complete his first 3100 mile race.  Yet somehow he came back with surprising determination and focus in order to succeed. To understand even a little of how he found the capacity to do such a thing is to become aware of what a remarkable figure William Sichel really is.

This year his situation is even more dire.  This morning he is 72 miles back and has now just 20 days left in order to make it up.  What is admirable in William is of course that there is no surrender, there is n0 giving up.  He and his team are committed to being here and doing their absolute best until there is no time left to do even one more lap.

When we talk this morning I joke with him whether he ever wished he had stuck with Ping Pong a sport he was once very talented in.  “The honest answer is yes.” (Laughs)

“This is not the sort of race you enjoy all the time.  You are not having fun all the time.  You have all the emotions probably every day.  Certainly when you get to the end the overriding feeling and emotion is that you are glad that you did it.  The experience can only be gained by being here the compete 52 days.”

“There are moments in my day when I feel that this is the best thing that I could possibly be doing.  But you have to be here for the duration in order to get those experiences.  You can’t come for a couple of days and get them.  You need to be here day in and day out to get into the state.  As someone said to me the clue of the race is all about is in its name, Self-Transcendence.  It is not the 3100 mile race it is the self-transcendence 3100 mile race.”

“To get into that state you just have to grind it out.  Day after day, week after week, whatever the weather. That is the nature of the beast.”

William feels that for him self transcendence means reaching a higher mental state.  That can only be achieved by doing something unusual.  You can’t just wake up in the morning and go for a walk and say …..I am self transcending. It is a higher state of mind that can only be achieved by attempting extraordinary feats.”

William says that because of the length of the 3100 mile race no other event compares.  “It takes you to a state that you can’t achieve in shorter events.  You have to be doing the best you can every day.  It has all to do with the effort, and the commitment to the event.  My aim is to cover the greatest possible distance every day.”

“I am here to the stroke of midnight every night.  I am not cutting for home.  That is the way I do it and that is the way I want to do it. By doing that I am doing myself justice.”

The Board at the Start of Day 32…* Note totals may not be accurate… Magic number is 1,847*

It is even a little cool this morning

Continue reading “Day 32… Best You Can (July 18)”

From the very instant the race starts time starts to disappear.  Yes on day one, 52 days looks like a giant piggy bank filled to overflowing with time.  A runner at the start tries to gather up as many extra miles as they can.  Knowing full well that bad days, ones in which you were unable to run 109 laps just might and also quite likely might happen when you least expect it.

No 3100 mile runner ever wishes to be in the deficit category.  It is hard to regain those precious laps and as the race progresses past the half way point the task of regaining them gets so much harder.  So what do you do when the tipping point arrives and there is simply not enough time to get them back.

Last year Smarana faced this predicament and now, with just 3 weeks left it looks as though he has arrived at this same place again.  He starts the day with 1722 miles when he really needs to have 1,788 miles, the magic number.  The race of course draws runners to this monumental task who are extraordinary and who view their lives here in ways that artfully straddle both outer achievement and inner progress.   Quite often, as Sopan said yesterday, the race is really all about the inner experience.

Today Smarana says he wants to use the next 21 days to become a better person. “I am really getting my money’s worth here.”

“My focus is shifting more and more on the transformation of my nature.  My focus on running is going more to the background.  I see the race more and more as a stage for experiences to help transform my nature.  In my first 7 races I was just able to push through.  Now there has been a shift.”

“I feel as though I have a more conscious awareness of what’s happening.  Maybe I have gone a little too far in the self transformation. (Laughs) You don’t have any real control here.  I just want to be more conscious and feel and see and commit myself more.  Previously I was just pushing through.”

“Every day is just, day to day, and from one break to the next.  21 days is really quite a lot.  I remember the first time I did the race and had completed 21 days and when I realized I had another 31 days my mind was just in shock. It took me 2 days just to calm down.  You just have to break it down day by day.”

Smarana feels that right now he is better able to experience the race.  Observe the things he needs to learn and accept the inner experiences that he needs in order to become a better person. “Of course I wanted to have both the outer thing to finish the race and also the inner thing the transformation aspect.”

It rained late this afternoon

The board at the Start of Day 31 *Totals may not be accurate… Magic number is 1,788*

Camp early

Continue reading “Day 31… Transformation of Nature (July 17)”

“I have no expectations, it is all the Supreme’s grace.”  Sopan humbly answered to my congratulations this morning on his great achievement thus far in the race.  “I feel that there is a force that makes everything work out.  I just try my best.”

“My first race was 2005, 13 years ago, quite a while ago.”  He says that in some ways the race was different when Sri Chinmoy the founder of the race was still with us and in some ways it hasn’t changed.”

He says that both Ananda-Lahari, Smarana and he were fortunate to have the privilege of participating in the race when Sri Chinmoy would spend so much time there encouraging all the runners. “Sri Chinmoy used to be the most regular visitor here.  He would come at least 4 times a day.” Sopan describes how he would bring treats for them and even play music in the same spot that the Enthusiasm Awakeners sing each day.

“Back in the day Ashprihanal and I used to run together at night.  Somehow we would be filled with energy at night.  We used to have fun, tell jokes, have a good time.  So one night, usually runners are tired, but we were having a really good time.  Running, joking, laughing loudly.”

“Then Sri Chinmoy drove by with the window of the car open.  He was excited, so happy to see us.  We were running at good speed and laughing.  He was so happy and he blessed us.” Sopan’s eyes widen and he makes the all so familiar gesture that Sri Chinmoy would so often do.  The hand gently rising up and down and made the sound he so often used to encourage his students, ‘Baaah, Baaah, Baaah.

“He really appreciated our enthusiasm.”

“Now at the race you have to be more spiritual.  You have to really surrender your problems.  Sri Chinmoy had this special capacity to draw your problems.  He had this smile, with it he had the capacity to draw all our problems away.  Now we have to consciously work on surrender. This is the main difference between the race then and now.  But in a way this makes the race more spiritual. Now you have to be able to offer up your problems within yourself.”

Came the moment this morning when it was time for me to leave the race.  I went into the van where I had left all my gear and found Sopan there quietly working on the blisters on his feet.  I sat across from him on the opposite bunk and talked with him for a short while.  Curious how his feet were holding up now well into his 30th day of running on them.

He said that they were fine but now that he was walking more it was creating new problems for his feet which have so far taken him 1759 miles.  Sopan was calm, quiet, and methodical.  There was no hurry and there was no rush.  He like all the runners have to continually do everything right.  Sopan after all does still have almost 1400 miles more to go.

Asked about his performance thus far he is grateful for this opportunity he has been given now for the 7th time.  He said that for him though the numbers were not to be chased after or pursued.  The race was all about the inner experience.

Bonus interview with Sandhani from last night

Weather advisory

Continue reading “Day 30… More Spiritual (July 16)”

“When they first told me the course was not flat I could not believe it.” Of course there a very select few who have had the opportunity like she has to circle the half mile block around Thomas Edison High school thousands and thousands of times.  Not just intimately understanding differentials in elevation but also every possible aspect of the loop.

Each day a change in direction and each day a hope and a prayer to be able to make the circuit at least 109 times.  As of 27 days of running Surasa has completed the loop 1,623 miles here just this year. That is not including the multiple orbits she has made in this same race over the years.

“I am happy as long as I survive.  When there was extreme heat my only goal was to survive.”

“My preparation for the race I have to say is not so good.”  Surasa says she does not keep track of her training.  “I don’t write it down.  I am running in the morning and I cannot manage more than 50 minutes.  On the weekend I try to run longer, 2hours, 3 hours.”

Surasa says that training has 2 sides.  When you run well you feel good but if you get tired then doubts can start to come about your fitness.  “That’s life. Training is always different than the race.”

“Many times I ran barefoot on grass.  I said to my feet, soon you will be running on sidewalk.  You have to remember this, running on the grass.”

“I have a very nice story that shows that prayer works.  The heat wave took all my energy.  Then I felt that something had changed. I had the best night ever.  I was sleeping through the night for the first time.  A little bit longer than 3 hours.  Then in the morning I felt, wow, such a good sleep.”

“It was the first day after all this heat.  Then I could do the mileage.  I believe I did 114 laps.  Everything was good.  Everything was much better. Later, on this same day.  I got an email from a friend.”  She was visiting a special meditation center for students of Sri Chinmoy in Germany.  She told Surasa, “I was praying for you.  I was sending light into your heart hoping that the light would then come down to your feet.”

“This was so amazing.  It was so nice for me.  It showed me that prayer works.”

Surasa’s name means, your heart is filled with boundless sweetness and affection.  Therefore you are making very fast progress in the spiritual life.

The Board at the Start of Day 28…*Note the totals may not be accurate… the magic number is 1,609*

Camp early

Continue reading “Day 28… Prayer Works (July 14)”

“I feel very very good.  I am very blessed.  I think it is getting better and better.  I can say I feel very good every day.”

If one were just looking at the scoreboard it would appear that Ushika is doing spectacularly well.  Yesterday  he ran 64 miles the most he has run since the first day of the race.  But his feeling good is more about what is happening within than the number of little plastic digits stuck to a scoreboard with Velcro.

“It was definitely special when I transcended my mark of 15 days for 1,000 miles.  This was the longest I had ever run before coming to this race.  Since then it has been a completely new journey.  I do celebrate each new milestone.  Like the halfway point yesterday.”

When asked what he did he says, “stop, smile, be grateful, take a picture of the board, and have a beer or an ice cream or both.”

Ushika says he would not have changed anything about his preparations for this race.  “My goal was to be more grateful.  Basically I am crying every day.  Not with pain but with gratitude.  So the only thing I would need would be more gratitude.”

“Yesterday Vasu and I were crying together.  Because as a new comer, I have teething problems, with the muscles, with the skin, with everything. Vasu always checks on me.  Most of the time when some problem arises he suggests some exercise and like a miracle.  Within one or two laps it works.  The problem gets considerably better.”

“Yesterday I told him that each and every exercise he had given me had worked.  I was praising the Supreme’s grace that it was working in and through him.  Then we both started to cry.”

“This was a gratitude moment yesterday.  It was when I realized what a family of heroes I have joined here.  That I am able to join them in running for the Supreme, fighting for the right cause, and growing into the light.”

The board at the start of Day 27 *Please note the totals may not be accurate…..the magic number is 1550*

Early

Continue reading “Day 27… Completely New Journey (July 13)”

Feeding the 3100 mile runners is no easy task and yet Nirjharini has been the head cook now of the race for the past 15 years.  Creating individual dishes specifically for each runner’s needs and appetites is a herculean task.  Now imagine this responsibility spread out over an 18 hour day.  Ensuring that each athlete has enough fuel to run 59.6 miles a day and more, and stay healthy and of course happy.

When you enter the race kitchen there are a number of impressions that greet you immediately.  Aromas of fresh food you are aware of well before you even knock on the door.  Once inside spotless cleanliness, and purity are something you cannot but unavoidably feel and experience.  It is what I imagine a temple of food is like.

Nirjharini and her crew all work with such love and joy it reminds me of how some great restaurants can provide great taste but you go away somehow still lacking.  Her food is always delicious and made with love. The best ingredient in all of life’s dishes.

I ask Nirjharini what she likes about helping in this important way for the race. “I look forward to this race all year.  Being here for me is a very special time.  It is a very sacred time.”  Nirjharini also carries very sweet memories of the early years at the race when Sri Chinmoy, the marathon team founder was still with us.”

Nirjharini says, “it is amazing what the runners do.  It is extremely inspiring.  They are all doing something unimaginable. I am very grateful that I can be part of this race, preparing food.  I really really admire the runners.  They are a big inspiration in my life.”

“The runners give us tips and we are trying to change the food for them,” … Mirka

“It is great.  It is one big family and I really enjoy it.  We can feel the oneness with the runners.  You can start to feel what each one likes or doesn’t like.  I feel like I am home here. It is really great.”….Sadajyoti

“I think it is a really really special race.  It is such a beautiful feeling to be here.  You can feel the Supreme’s energy very strongly.” Kamaneeya works as a counter most days as well as working in the kitchen.  The inner experience she describes, “it is so so strong it is really beautiful.”

I did not leave after my visit to the kitchen hungry in any way.

*Not pictured are Tanuja and Virochana*

The Board at the start of Day 26 *Note the totals may not be accurate…… The magic number is 1,490*

Continue reading “Day 26… One Big Family (July 12)”