Day 29…Always Do Your Best (July 14)

If attempting to complete the Everest of running competitions is next to impossible than attempting to tell its story in one complete documentary would be, for nearly all, also out of reach teetering on some distant pinnacle. As someone who has taken regular tiny nibbles of this giant puzzle I understand the staggering complexity of the task. And Yet Sanjay Rawal 3 years ago, along with a superb technical team has put together a film, 3100: Run and Become, that does so both brilliantly and beautifully.

“The movie was released in 2018 in theaters all around the US, and it is now on Amazon and Itunes. We wanted to do a film about this race, the world’s longest. At the same time we wanted to show how and why this race is even possible.”

“Obviously it all comes from the meditative aspect of the race. So we went back in time to look at traditional culture. The Navajo, the Kalahari bushmen, and the marathon monks of Japan. Number one, to dispel the myth that this race was anything crazy or outlandish. But to also show that if you run from the heart, if you run from the spirit than anything is possible.”

With the award he received for best Director at a recent Film Festival in Bulgaria

“I enjoy running a lot more than I used to.” This Sanjay says is one of the benefits of getting so deeply involved in the distance running culture. “Not by seeing these people suffer, but finally understanding why these men and women come out every single summer. Do a race, that seems on the surface to be the most painful experience that a human being could have.”

“When you are out here you see this constant blossoming of people’s hearts. So understanding why that happens has actually made me a better runner.”

“This race is extremely difficult to understand. Because the mileage is so far beyond what 99.99% of runners experience or want to experience. So there is a little bit of confusion I think when people approach this race. Because they look at it from the numbers. They only look at the surface. From the location, on sidewalks in New York city in the summer.”

“I think the purpose of our movie was to show that there is a deep inner side of the race and that inner aspect of the race I think that every single runner on earth can identify with. So I think when people come to the race now they come with an understanding that it is a spiritual journey. Not so much an outer one.”

The trailer for the film

“When Sri Chinmoy was in the physical he would come out here once a day, twice a day and the runners felt his constant presence here. I know in the period after his passing for 2 or 3 years the runners had to struggle a lot more for the level of enthusiasm that he brought outwardly to the event.”

“Then again you can’t accomplish 3,100 miles without a deep inner connection to your heart. So in that sense I feel his presence is here now stronger than ever. Because the race, despite the absence of his presence physically is getting stronger and stronger and bigger and bigger, and more well known each year.”

“And that just shows that his presence and spirit is not going to leave this place.”