Author: utpal

Just last year Yuri was running the Self Transcendence 3100 mile race for his 4th straight year.  In what was perhaps an unexpected turn of events, Yuri won the race in 46 days and 1 hour.  In another unexpected turn of events he is once again back here at the race but this time as an early morning set up man.

Before the sun peaks its light over the rim of Thomas Edison High school he is pulling chairs and gear out of the trailers and getting the camp ready for a long long day for the 10 runners entered in this years race.

*Translation by Lyalya*

For me each time we have talked over the years he usually speaks from a mystical perspective.  One, not unattached or fully removed from the push and pull of the every day physical challenge.  Yet at the same time he yearns tirelessly for the divine.  Putting more emphasis on the challenges to his heart and of course the rewards of looking within first while moving along as quickly as possible.

This morning when we talked again after he had finished setting up I asked him if he had any mystical experiences so far this year on the sidelines.  He smiled at me and said no.  Those have to be earned.

“This is a dream of Sri Chinmoy this race.  It is a unique race. Last year I was inside this dream and this year I am watching from outside.  I am observing the runners.  How they change.  How they move.  This is an amazing experience.”

“To be a runner here is to be inside the life, and right next to Sri Chinmoy.  But when you are a helper like I am this year you are an observer.”

When asked if he will be back next year.  “This is my dream.  I really want to.”

As for what he has learned over the 12,400 miles he has run here.  “You have to love God.  You have to love him very sincerely, very deeply, and very devotedly.”

Continue reading “Day 20…Inside The Dream (July 7)”

Sometime late this morning Nidhruvi will be the 9th of the 10 runners to pass the 1,000 mile mark.  For most of us this would be an achievement of a lifetime but for Nidhruvi it is just one very early milestone on the way to achieving the ultimate goal of 3100 miles.  As it is still only day 19, and with 33 more potential days to recover missing miles ahead.  It is still way too early to say that the ultimate goal for her cannot be reached.

Something much more interesting is happening for Nidhruvi here than can be observed on lap sheets and score boards.  She tells me that before she even came a Doctor in Austria did not have much hope that her knees would do her bidding.  He recommended that she wear heavy knee supports.  Ones that may have relieved stress but would have most certainly been uncomfortable and encumbered her running.

As she talks about different maladies that have made her acquaintance over the past 19 days she is not gloomy whatsoever.  These crippling problems she has learned to somehow to not be a prisoner to them.  Recognize that yes, they are there, but then let go.  To remove the strangle hold of fear and doubt from the equation.  Let the Supreme do his job in and through her, and on her part be an instrument.

I ask Nidhruvi if she is having problems today.  “No not really.  It is always up and down.  There are always some challenges every day.  So it is pretty normal.”

She has done many many multi day races and I ask her if there is anything that distinguishes one from the other.  “In a way they are all similar.  You know how the challenges are.  But in a way they are very different and not different.”

I ask her if she was ever frightened about taking up any of her very hard races.  “There was always a bit of fear with it but the excitement, happiness, and joy is much stronger.  You are totally excited and want to explore new things.”

“I started with 700 miles at Wards island in 1996 I think.  I remember there was one moment there which I have never forgotten.  I just knew I had to go back there.  So this was not the first or last race.  This I knew for sure.”  She understood it was all part of Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy of self transcendence.  If you have the capacity keep going.”

“You want to be useful and try and give it a chance.”

“I think my task this time is for me to offer my total surrender.  This is the feeling I had even before I entered into this race.   I had a slight feeling that it all may not work out the way that I wanted.  When I started I could see it already coming that this race is different.”

“I promised myself that I just want to be a good instrument.  A humble and devoted instrument.  I am doing my best, and I hope I can inspire lots of people on earth.  I know that they are out there and they are praying for me, which is so fulfilling and touching.”

Continue reading “Day 19…To Be An Instrument (July 6)”

Late this morning Andrey Andreev will complete 1000 miles here at the Self Transcendence race.  It is an incredible achievement since prior to this moment the furthest he has ever run before is 627 miles.  The people in camp will bring out a box of small brass bells which will be rung vigorously.  There will be shouts of appreciation, photos will be taken, but Andrey cannot stop for long.  He still has a long long way left to go.

All the runners are under the watch of a fearsome schedule, particularly those who have dropped below the rate they need to finish.  For them they have the arduous additional responsibility of gaining back miles in order to reach the goal.  Andrey started out needing to do 109 laps a day.  Now because of some low mileage days he needs 111 laps which he was able to do yesterday.

When we speak this morning he tells me he feels amazing.  When we talked last he mentioned that he was working on staying happy more.  I asked how that was working out for him.  “Hmmmmm, maybe not completely.”

“I am trying to be happy by sleeping more (jokes).  I am keeping my eye on my miles in order to beat the deadline.  This doesn’t allow me to be completely happy because so far I am a little behind the deadline.”

“I like everything about the race.  I like the place itself.”

“Although I don’t know exactly all the rules of the game, I still like to play the game.  I like everything that  surrounds this race.  I like people and I like to communicate with people during the day and during the evening.”

“I like how the people around us are watching us.  They are comparing their own day to day lives with our routines.  How they allow us to enter into their lives.  They are becoming our friends.”

“I have found out here that I am not on good terms with the sun.  So when it is really hot I cannot run.  This is a new experience for me.  I am trying to establish some relationship to the sun.”

“As for spiritual experiences I have so far only had one.  I am hoping that I will have many more.  Because I found that I had many more during the intensity of the 10 day race.  So I thought I would be having many more here.”

At this point we are coming upon the little alcove where Sri Chinmoy used to practice playing musical instruments, and now the Enthusiasm Awakeners still sing each morning.  “Their performance is always amazing.  I am really impressed how devoted they are to coming and singing each day.  That spot inspires me to focus more.”

Continue reading “Day 18… I am Playing A Game Here (July 5)”

Yolanda is a perfect example of a person you need to spend more time with to understand them just a little better.  From a first impression you cannot help but be impressed with how much effort she puts into her race attire.   Now, in the 17th day of the race there have thus far been no repeats and when asked whether she has 52 outfits for each day of the race she is a little vague.  But I can gather from our talk that at least 30 days will likely pass and none will be repeated.

When you search even just a little beyond her outer appearance you cannot help but be impressed with her inner strength and beauty.  Here the inner person, is for me at least, much more appealing and interesting.  Beauty beyond all the well color coordinated outfits.

Her intensity and steadfast dedication to this impossible event is spectacularly beautiful and inspiring. Not being anywhere near a trained psychologist I suspect that what Yolanda has in amazing quantities is simply grit.

Which defined by Wikipedia says is, ‘ a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual’s passion for a particular long-term goal or end state, coupled with a powerful motivation to achieve their respective objective.

“Day 17, 962 miles.”  Yolanda is keeping incredible focus, as really all the runners do, on her progress.  She has a cushion at this point but there is still a long way to go.  Late this afternoon she will make 1,000 miles and I ask her if she paid any attention to her previous personal best in competition.

“No. I did 622 miles at the 10 day race.”  She of course has her hands full dealing with each day and each new challenge as they inevitably come along.

“I was feeling tired just now, and Vasu came by and asked me how was I feeling.  I said tired, and he said why?  I laughed so hard.  I am feeling a little better.”

“This is a lot harder than I ever imagined.  I never thought in my wildest dreams that I could push my body this far.  It sounds so easy. To walk or run for 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, for over 7 weeks.  We are now approaching the 3rd week.  It is nothing like I had imagined.”

Yolanda is looking forward to making 1,000 miles later today.  “It gives me some motivation to get to 1,000 tonight.”

“What is really keeping me motivated is that I am meeting so many people.  Yesterday for example I saw a couple on the course, who were a little over weight.  They were ahead and just kept looking back at me.  I didn’t know for sure what they were looking at and as I got closer, I realized they were looking at me.”

“When I got closer to them I called out, have a good workout.  They said back to me, we want to look like you.  That really touched my heart.  There are a lot of people who come to this park each day and I have never seen them.”

Yolanda knows full well just how many laps she has to do each day.  “109 times keeps me in the game.  110 keeps me above the game, and I am still in the game.”  Yesterday Yolanda completed 110 laps.

“Being here I really believe is my purpose.  And this is my purpose right at this moment.  It is to inspire people to get healthy and fit by walking.  A lot of people think that the only way you can lose weight and get healthy and fit is to run or to ride a bike.  I for one believe that walking is a start and you can get healthy and fit, just by walking.”

Yolanda is the sole American in the race and on this beautiful 4th of July I ask her what the day means for her.  “It means peace.  For me the 4th of July means that you are free.  You are free to be who you are.  You are free to relax and show peace and show love.  Lots of love.  Be nice to everybody.”

Continue reading “Day 17…My Purpose (July 4)”

Sergey has been one of the bright surprises of this years 3100 mile race.  He has not had a lot of experience in multi day running only having competed in 4 multi day races in the past 5 years.  His personal best of 627 miles in the 2016 10 day race hinted at the potential but over the past 15 days his performance here has blossomed.

*Translation by Lyalya*

5 days ago he comfortably ran past that mark of 627 miles and as of this morning, as he starts day 16 he has 911 miles completed.  Every new step taking him further and further into personal self transcendence.  When we met this morning I joked with him.  I asked if he had at last got the hang of the race yet or did he need a few more weeks.   “A lot has happened but it has not become any easier.”

“Every day new surprises and new experiences, and new tests.  Because of that the race is becoming more and more interesting to me.  You don’t know what to expect.  Always newness.  It forces you to be in good condition, good spirit, and good form.”

“Every day you have to solve new problems, on a physical level, on a mental level, and on a psychic level. But it is good that this race has with it many experienced runners.  Who have already overcome this arduous challenge, and they are giving me lots of support.”

“They very gladly and easily share their experience and help me in my hardest moments.  Their presence here touches and inspires me.”

“Even though I only have 4 hours of sleep.  It is so amazing how fast my body adjusts itself and I find new strength to get up and run again.”

When asked if Sergey has any special places on the course he laughs.  By coincidence we are coming up to the children’s playground at one end of the course.  He says he appreciates it most in the evening when the heat of the day is over, “it becomes a real happening place over there.”

“Kids have so much endless, tireless energy.  Me on the other hand by that time of day I already have no energy.  When I pass by and see the kids running around the fountain and playing on the slides.  I just soak in their energy.”

Sergey tells me that the most telling experiences he has had thus far have been mostly inner and connected to the mental work he has to do here.  “Especially during the day, sometimes I have very very tough moments.  When my physical strength just abandons me.  On one hand I may even have just gotten some rest and I have come out on the course and am ready to go again.  But I can’t even make one step forward.”

“I just don’t even know what to do next.  I don’t have any strength at all.  Then I just start crying.  God please give me some strength.  (he is laughing as he shares this)

Continue reading “Day 16…Always Newness (July 3)”

So many marvels, both grand and small take place at the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race that you could never record them all.  Sometimes it is hard enough to just record the important things, like the laps of course.  Throughout each runners day things happen, that will not only lift them up but in many ways touch and inspire many others.

Vasu, who is running for his 6th time is so incredibly exceptional in his unfettered devotion to the race that I often feel inadequate when I speak with him.  He is devoid of any artifice or superficiality.  When he says that running here is like being in Paradise I can only aspire to be able to see the race so purely as he does.  For in his unswerving clarity of vision is something I feel lacking and I suspect that the rest of us could all wish we had even just a little more of, such tireless dedication to the divine within.

This morning he tells me a little story about seeing a small boy getting his shoelace wrapped up in his bicycle and thus forcing him to fall over.  Without hesitation he checked on the child, released the lace, and got him on his way.  Only latter on the far side of the course was Vasu approached by the boys Father, who promptly thanked him.

Who knows how much that brief act of kindness ate into his mileage for the day.  It did not matter to Vasu.  Nor does it matter when he stoops down on many laps to pick up bits of trash.  His only wish is to make the course as clean and pure as possible.  For of course there is no trash in Paradise.

When asked if every morning is a good morning, he says, “Yes of course. Yes every morning is a good morning because we are here.  This is paradise for us, this is grace for us.  This is a privilege to be here.”

Vasu says that of course self transcendence is doing better miles if possible.  “If we cannot do more miles we try and do self transcendence maybe inwardly.  We try to pray more.  To meditate more.  To be more happy.  To invoke the consciousness of the Supreme.”

There was a period in late winter after the severe injury to his back that Vasu was doubtful that he would be able to come this year.  “Once I ran and after I did it, I couldn’t run for 5 days or more.  He had no idea, if it was just wishful thinking to come and run the race this year, or maybe it would be somehow possible.

Vasu says that he inwardly asked his late teacher Sri Chinmoy if it would be possible to run.  He then had a dream in which he saw a small child.  He tried to play with the little boy, “but he was a little bit heavy, and my mother told me it was my back.  I put the child back on the ground.”

“The child was so nice so beautiful that I still wanted to play with him.  I understood then that I needed to increase the capacity of my back, in order to play with this child.  Because this child is a 3100 mile race child.”

“Now each day I try and play with him, to run with him.  I imagine that we are both the same age.  We play together and I am happy.”

Continue reading “Day 15…This Is Paradise (July 2)”

I met Harita this morning at the corner of 168th st. as she came up the service road towards me.  I often run along this route during the year and am hardly aware at all that it is anything more than a slight incline.  But to Harita, who has now circled this same corner 1270 times now in the past 13 days it is a hill.

When you lay on the sidewalk, as I have done taking pictures, you can see it unmistakably.  It helps me to get a better understanding,  that all the little details of the course get observed by the runners in ways that we can never fully grasp or understand.

For the last 2 days now Harita has been running 111 laps each day which is just about 61 miles.  “I kind of realized the first few days of the race that if I want to do the necessary miles each day that I would have to stay really focused.”

“I don’t always stay really focused in my regular life.  It is a really good practice for me and a really good opportunity for me.  I can but I often get distracted.  I love people, I love talking to people.  I am interested in a lot of things.”

I saw her early speaking on the phone.  “That was actually one of the first times I spoke with people on the phone.  I haven’t really used my phone much.  I felt, especially for the first couple of weeks that it was really important to practice focusing.”

“I feel that is more like trying to be one with God’s will.  Everything is a flow, and if you can silence your mind, and connect with the higher part of yourself.  For me it is more about not being distracted by other things.  Keep my mind as calm as possible.  Keep myself very present in the moment.  To really have faith, that if I do that then everything will flow from within.”

“I guess trying to focus inwardly which is challenging outwardly as well. Trying not to get too strict, or serious, or regimented. Do what I need to do and have faith that everything will flow.”

Sometime in the past week Harita had accumulated more miles in competition than she had ever run before.  “It was a big deal.  It gave me a lot of joy and encouragement.  Because I still felt strong.”

“I guess at the end of the last 10 day race, I was really at the end.”  She ran 540 miles.  At the start of day 14 she has 789 miles.  After 10 days here she had 606 miles.

“Because of the fact that I still felt strong.  This race is all about transcending yourself and going beyond what you conceive of as possible.  When you can go beyond what you have ever done before then that gives you joy.”

Continue reading “Day 14…Higher Part of Yourself (July 1 )”

2 years ago Nirbhasa ran the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race for the first time.  After 11 days of running he had accumulated 710 miles.  Last year was a break year and once again he is running the longest race in the world.  This time after 11 days he has 725 miles, which in the peculiar trajectory of race statistics, would indicate a very good improvement.

When I ask Nirbhasa if he feels it is going well he says, “I am taking it one day at a time.  I don’t think about the accumulative amount of laps.  But I do remember at this stage of the race last time I started going down hill pretty quickly.”

He doesn’t know exactly what happened back then.  The files show that he started going well under 60 mile per day up until about the half way point on Day 26.  “My body just wasn’t used to it.  It started around day 11 or 12.  Before that all I had done was a 10 day race.  So that could have a lot to do with it.”

“Maybe now I am just doing better at management with things like sleep.  I am really trying now to look after myself.  To be in bed as soon as possible after this finishes.”

Nirbhasa says he learned a lot from his race experience here in 2015.  “But there is still a lot more to discover.  You come back with new goals.  Things that you could have done better outwardly.  Things that you could have done better inwardly to remain in a better frame of mind to actually enjoy the race as an experience.”

“There is no point in being out here for the better part of 2 months if you are not committed to experiencing and enjoying the race fully.  Rather than thinking, O God, and just ounting down the days until you have to go.”

I suggest to Nirbhasa that he went into the last race with a high degree of confidence.  “Confidence is a strong word.  You can cut it two ways.  You definitely have to some kind of idea that you can finish the race, and do well.  Have some goals and try and meet them every day.  At the same time you have to be very humble at this race.  Because the distance is just too long to push or pull.  Anything can happen.  You can get injured.  You might have to go slowly for a while.”

“I guess inwardly part of the goal is to be as happy and cheerful as possible no matter what happens.”

“One of the real opportunities of this race is that you really get to take time off and dedicate it towards your inner search in a way that I try to do in my regular life.  I am very lucky in that most of things that I do in my outer life are connected to my inner search in one way or another.  But still it is normally difficult to get together all those spiritual disciplines that you really like to do.”

“So it is a real opportunity here to really challenge the mind to go beyond the mind and go into the heart.  Because if you can’t do it here where can you do it.”

Continue reading “Day 12…Inner Search (June 29)”

“It’s really nice weather so far.”  Kaneenika is wearing a vest this morning. It was a cool clear night.  Now there is a light breeze, the sky is bright, the air is clear it is an almost perfect day to be running for 18 hours around this sacred half mile block in Queens New York.

“We have had some rain and it has been mostly quite cool.  Sometimes the weather affects me.  If it is too hot and humid then definitively.”  We all of course know that the scourge of oppressive summer heat will be coming soon enough.

This is Kaneenika’s 3rd year in a row of running here and I was curious how she makes up her mind about doing it.  “Until I think, the beginning of February, I was almost 100 percent sure that I wasn’t going to do the race.  Then, I don’t know what happened.  It just happened that I got a really strong feeling that yes, I want to do the race.”

“I think it is my soul that compels me to do it.  Otherwise I can’t explain it.  Because I was really ready to skip this year.  I was more than ready and willing not to do it.”

I suggest that when she was so successful being able to complete the distance last year that she had more confidence and knowledge of how to do the race this time.  “That is why we are here.  To make it always better.  To go deeper.  To handle situations better.”

When asked about the fact that there are 4 girls this year.  “I think it is quite exciting.  Even before the race when I knew there were going to be 4 girls.  I was really looking forward to it.  It is a big difference.”

“There are more opportunities to share and to inspire each other. I am sure there are  moments when we pull each other, consciously or unconsciously. Maybe there will be times when I am tired and I see that other people are running, or doing there best then it definitely helps me.  To pull myself together, and go forward again.”

“Of course there are things you can do to help your body.  To heal and adapt to a situation.  But then as well you need to work on you inner level.  To overcome the situation.  To become stronger and sometimes it is not that easy but there is always meditation and all the things that Sri Chinmoy has taught us over the years, to help in situations like this.”

When I ask her if she feels the guidance and presence of Sri Chinmoy, “O yes.  Very strongly.  Sometimes it just happens and then sometimes I have to remind myself.  He is here and he is doing it.  It is not me but it is him.”

Continue reading “Day 11…Always Better (June 28)”