Day 27: An Inner Call

“I take every day at a time.”  Andrea is hesitant to confirm that he is having a great race. He once again had another 70 plus mile day which puts him in the stratosphere of running standards here at the 3100 mile race.

“I am doing my standard somehow.  It is not extremely well but I am happy.  I keep fighting to keep the 70 mile average and so far it’s been okay.  Now lets see what happens.”

As for the times he established last year he knows he is close.

“Normally I put it in the background, and let nature takes it’s course.”

Andrea has a very expressive face.  He says, “I think it is about my attitude.”  Andrea believes he most often feels he is challenging the race as though it were a battleground.

Sri Chinmoy Ultra Photo

“So I don’t smile so much.  Many time people tell me I should smile more.”

“I take it as a duty somehow and I can’t say I enjoy it so far.  Let’s see later on what happens.”

Sri Chinmoy Ultra Photo

“I am competing not only with myself. I have this inner call somehow for self-transcendence.” Andrea confesses that at the beginning of the race that was not his intention.  “I wanted to take it easy but when I learned I had the same pace as last year I realized I had to do the job.”

When asked why he sprints off the starting line, “I want to show myself that I am sharp.  I am ready.  I want to go all the way. I don’t want to lose time, to fool around.  I take it seriously. That’s the reason why I sprint.”

The board at the start of Day 27

Camp

Clock

Annugata and Rupantar

Vasu

Getting tea

New shirt

Vasu and Stutisheel

New shirt

Harita

Andrea

Start day 27

Wei Ming did 64 miles

He now has 1667 miles

Camp

Flower

Medur delivering oatmeal

Vasu did 66 miles

He now has 1607 miles

Flower

Anupam with Andrea’s smoothy

Harita did 58 miles

She now has 1596 miles

Saying good bye to Harashita who returns to Japan tomorrow

She will be missed

Flower

Vajra

firedrill

Takasumi did 59 miles

Hwe finished the day with 1551 miles.  1 mile past half way

With Nina

Flower

Marina counting

Swamiji

Rupantar with flat tire

Stutisheel did 47 miles

He now has 1534 miles

Flower

Ananda-Lahari did 78 miles

He now has 1485 miles

Flower

Sahishnu

Pati leaves today

“This is amazing.”

Even an iota of progress
In the inner life
Is much more important
Than the so-called success-life.

One thought on “Day 27: An Inner Call”

  1. Love that new shirt! May those birds help the runners to fly! Insightful interview with Andrea.

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