utpal – Page 66 – Perfection Journey

Day Four: What We Create Together

“Obviously I haven’t become more clever or wiser since I am still doing a World Run.” In the fall of 2005 I met Jesper Olsen for the first time as he was running across lower Manhattan. At the time he was in the final weeks of a round the world run. After a brief stop in Queens he then flew on to Ireland and than completed his journey when he returned to Greenwich England 20 months after he first began. Now once again he is in the final stages of another round the world run, but one this time that is trying as best as possible to travel North South and back again.

This incredibly talented 40 year old Danish runner has never sought after fame or the limelight despite his incredible achievements. Almost from the moment you hear him speak it is easy to realize that something heart felt and deep within motivates and inspires him to undertake these epic journeys.

When he speaks about the moment he completed his first run he feels that it was not the celebration for him that was significant but more so how people from around the world were drawn together. “I don’t find any individuals as important, but what we create together is infinitely important. I was not just one lonely runner approaching the finish line. That scenario does not hold any value. For this individual to cross the finish line was not important.”

He describes how one of his sponsors had promised that if he was able to finish the event he would run the final leg with him. Jesper believes that the man did not really think he would do it. In fact the man kept his pledge, and despite a lack of training managed to run the final 78 km with Jesper. “That gave me much more joy than my own accomplishment.”

“I hope most of all that people understand what a peaceful place we live in. If the world is as dangerous, and hostile, and different, as we see in the evening news. There is no chance of our survival.” He explains that when you meet people of the world directly as he does along the way, the true nature of the world becomes vividly apparent. He feels that it has progressed he says even since the first time he circled the globe.

A few days ago he took a break from his journey after first reaching Boston. The timing was perfect to then be able to take part in the Self Transcendence 6 day race here in Flushing meadow. Although being here would be in no way beneficial to physically completing his journey he feels simply that he was due for an inner recharge. Be for a short while with a family of runners who do not just share his dreams, but also, in their own way view and experience the world, not just with their eyes, but also with their hearts.

He jokes about what place he will be in at the end of 6 days.

Click to play Interview Pt1

[audio:http://perfectionjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Jesper-1.mp3|titles=Jesper 1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBqLsQjCg6w

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Day Three: Top Of The Mountain

“I came for the food.” It is a statement I have heard many times over the years at the 6 &10 day race. It of course may not be literally true, but for each runner who is being shadowed by doubt, or fatigue, or suffering from a unrelenting case of the the ‘blahs’ a trip through the food tent just may be the perfect antidote for all that ails you.

When you are relentlessly churning out the miles there is no doubt a simple equation that expresses the number of calories needed per mile. Eat enough and your tank has enough to burn for several hours. But none of these runners are machines and most are journeying into the farthest most reaches of their capacities.

Utilizing all your available physical strength and summoning endurance that you may never before asked of yourself is just part of the overall formula. One must be choosy as to which emotional friends you wish to accompany you. Doubt and fear are always looking for rides and of course never want to ever go forward. Ultimately the inner exploration will always keep revealing some new mystery and perhaps unveil some wonder that you never knew existed within your own heart.

Good food which is made with love like Niupura’s cooking crew is creating day in and day out is not the answer for everything but it does go a long way in making each runners journey just that much better. When your hunger goes beyond just carbs, then you will easily see the joy and love that permeates each and every delicious morsel here in the runners kitchen. It is with this subtle sweet goodness that each runner just might find an extra step in legs that are unwilling to go on. Than when you have released that reluctant step, it just might lead in turn to an extra lap, and then the top of the mountain just got a little bit closer.

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Day Two: I Always Had Hope

It is certainly a most difficult thing to run a 10 day race and yet sometimes the journey just to get to the starting line can be longer and even more difficult. Nidhruvi Zimmerman is now well into her second day on the course and she is running comfortably and confidently just as one would expect this tremendously gifted and experienced multi day runner to do.

At 46 she should be at her peak but instead this race represents a comeback for this lady from Vienna. The past 10 years have been much tougher than the 10 days now slipping comfortably away beneath her relentless strides. Over that long decade injury made it impossible for her to compete in any distance events at all. She says now though, ” I could never get rid of the running world. I always loved the long distance running. But because of injury I couldn’t do what I wanted to do. But after many experiences. I decided just to do it any way. Doesn’t mater what. Just to be ready and see if I still belong to the long distance world. Why not”

From 1995 until 2002 Nidhruvi appeared regularly at the races here. Her accomplishments at events above 6 days are extraordinary and yet now she runs with quite a different perspective. Those long lean years that must have at times felt like an eternity are now clearly over. “I am just grateful grateful, from the very depths of my heart.”

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Day One: The First Day of the Rest Of My Life

There are some things that are just so immense, so challenging, and so confoundedly difficult to grasp, that human description usually falls woefully short in shedding any light upon it whatsoever. This afternoon I ran less than a lap of the 10 day race with kaneennika Janakova and was painfully aware from the moment I took one step, in order to match the rhythm of her stride, that I had no idea of just how strong and talented she really is, and more importantly, how she can possibly keep on maintaining this effort mile after endless mile for 10 straight days.

Ultra distance running is in many ways the world in which she is most comfortable and in tune with. This 42 year old lady from Slovakia seems to run here with such poise and ease it is almost as though she could be doing this every day of the year and not just for 10 days in Flushing Meadow every spring. Last year she conquered the overall first place and set a course record of 724 miles. Yet Kaneenika is just one small piece of this unfathomable puzzle. Also with her, and sharing the same journey that winds around and about through Flushing Meadow, as the cool overcast afternoon dissolves into a hard dark night, are 35 other runners who will attempt to discover and accomplish their own unique goals in the coming days.

Then you have to acknowledge the crew that worked for days to set up this miraculous but O so temporary community, and the additional crew of helpers who shuttle back and forth many times a day in order to maintain the practical workings of the race. Sometimes there are striking moments of clarity when it just seems possible in being able to take it all in. Rupantar, who is the Sri Chinmoy marathon team race director said to me the day before the start, “if people want to see a real miracle all they have to do is come out here to the race.”
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Presence of the Master

There is a stubborn sadness in my life that seems reluctant to leave. It is not constant and yet as time passes it’s dark press upon my heart seems to grow ever more subtle, and yet, seems reluctant to fade entirely. Time is always the great healer of our self imposed problems, when just about every other cure is doomed to fail. I know too that I am the source of this stubborn dark emotion. It comes from both my lack of receptivity and some unevolved part of my being that desperately wants to continue to cling to a different time and reality then the blessed here and now.

More than 4 years have now swept past since Sri Chinmoy left us. His sudden departure from this world was a shock, not just those who called him their Guru, but also to many many others. Spiritual seekers around the world who saw him as a spiritual beacon and inspirer of all those who sought to reach new heights both inwardly and outwardly. His departure churned up a great wave of sorrow that spilled across the globe and touched all those with whom he had made an inner connection.

This sorrow however is such a useless thing, and certainly not what Sri Chinmoy would have wanted of anyone who admired, respected or loved him. Nothing is ever to be gained by fruitlessly chasing down tears. He saw joy as the only true avenue in which one could confidently move forward and continue to attain and fulfill all our own spiritual goals. In retrospect, he certainly had accomplished all that he needed to do on this earth. He shared the richness of his life with all and required not another year, month, or day in which to do it. Most importantly, it is his inner connection to his followers that is in fact still intact, and is as bright and illumining as it has always been. His capacity to nurture and inspire remains as rich and as powerful as always.

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The 47 Mile Race, 2011: A New Generation

The passage of time is usually never very kind to the human condition. As the calender keeps shedding each worn out month the discarded pages pile up into stacks of years. It is then that the tap tap of age upon our shoulders seems to grow ever more insistent. Trying usually, without calling upon much effort, to convince us that we can and should go slower and do less as we grow older.

Guru-47-1980 — Sri Chinmoy 1980 photo by Bhashwar

Yet Sri Chinmoy himself never surrendered to age and certainly hoped that his students would not listen to the braying frailties of our bodies, or the gibbering reluctance of our minds. There can be no better examples of this philosophy in action then Gaurima, Arpan, and Dipali who even after 30 years of continuous competition have never found any excuse not to still step up and enter this most special and uniquely challenging midnight run. Their memories are rich and full with moments when Sri Chinmoy not only watched with admiration from the sidelines but even back to the 2 years when he ran this race himself.

The 47 mile race has never lacked having an enthusiastic crowd of eager young participants. All willing to step off into the unknown realm of distance running and discover their own precious experience. Some dreaming and training just for that moment when they can push off from the starting line at midnight on August 27th.

Now over more than 33 years the track and road around Jamaica high school have tested and taught hundreds of runners some unique and fulfilling hard fought lessons. Each participant is inevitably confronted with not just the challenge of running an ultra distance but more importantly they are inevitably confronted by the simple truth, that by going deep within is also the answer to succeed in going not just 47 miles but also covering the total distance of one’s life.

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The 47 Mile Race, 2011: Pioneers

During the early morning hours of August 27 1978 some wonderful and historic super 8 film footage was captured by Abakash. The very first 47 mile race had begun in the pitch darkness starting at midnight hours earlier. At that time 38 nervous young runners stood motionless at the starting line, having no real idea of what was before them or even certain whether or not they could complete the distance. Yet much stronger than all our fears and doubts combined was our love and admiration for our spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy who had created this unique race, 47 miles long. He had invited us all to run and as he now solemnly stood before us as we anxiously waited for him to personally start the race at 12am.

This all happened more than 30 years ago. Time has removed the sharpness and clarity of many moments of my life but the start of the first 47 I am certain is etched so deeply into my heart and life, its sweet memory has yet to fade or dim. I can still clearly remember as Sri Chinmoy stood in powerful silent meditation in the darkness. An almost indefinable outline, illuminated barely by far off streetlights, and a couple of dim flashlights. Yet where our eyesight’s failed, another part within us was acutely aware of his presence and his gratitude that we should participate in this great new undertaking. On this night and at the moment as the clock ticked past 12 it became his 47th birthday and the race began.

What we did not know then was that this race was his gift to us and to future generations of runners. An unprecedented 47 mile long spiritual journey whose goal was infinitely longer than 40 laps of Jamaica High School. Yet for each and all who participated it would also be in turn a powerful opportunity to bring to the fore some small measure of our own self offering. The very act of running a perfect gift to him who inspired us in the first place. It was and remains to be both an unprecedented sporting event and a unique spiritual exercise, that many continue to take advantage of, and seems destined to remain as a timeless tradition.

In the weeks leading up to that midnight start he had made clear that the 47 mile race was going to be something new and challenging like nothing before. We simply had but to let go of our doubts and fears and surrender fully to the experience. A short while later he coined a unique expression that clearly and beautifully defined what this sport of running could offer both outwardly and inwardly, “Run and Become, Become and Run.” Spiritual progress and athletics and fitness can and must go together. Continue reading “The 47 Mile Race, 2011: Pioneers”

August 4: Fulfill A Dream of the Soul

They assemble on the starting line one last time. Now there are but 3 champions left on this hard but sacred ground. They have covered many thousands of miles these past 53 days. Yet they remain in the exact same spot as where they began. An irony most certainly not lost on those who seek out and crave outer adventure. For a spiritual athlete however the quest is not for victory without, but to try and achieve a self transcendence victory within. Something intangible to most, but no less real than a gleaming trophy sitting in a case.

The journey is not about the number of signposts that you have passed along the way, or who you have left behind. It is more that you have been attentive to your own inner voice and just how many you have inspired and gathered up with your heart’s oneness. In so many areas of life we judge and measure and attempt to balance all the conflicting and self important bits of who we are and who we think we are.

Here the playing field is flattest for those runners who can somehow manage to toss away the nagging conflicts that erupt between a lethargic body, a restless vital, and a mind tainted by doubt and fear. It never becomes effortless and yet the greatest burden a runner here has to bear are those stubborn bits dredged up from the shadowed places we all have within.

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August 3: My Soul Was Pleased

Early this morning a young runner got up and set off for a training run with a special lightness in their step and a sense of eager anticipation in their heart. They left before the day became heavy from the sun”s heat. They found cool satisfying steps that led down a familiar country lane, or beside the bright waters of the Black Sea, or maybe it was even on the still streets of Kiev, before the cars filled the city with their confusion and their haste.

Somewhere in the Ukraine or maybe even in the Russian Federation a young runner went out running knowing that by tonight something significant would at last be realized. Something that would take place far away but still be able to uplift their own dreams.

For no matter how you look at it, Stutisheel, over 8 years has been a consistent and true inspirer of distance runners throughout the region. Tonight in what is most certainly an historic event, he will complete the Self Transcendence 3100 mile race for the 8th year.

They may have never met him, perhaps only read one of his books, or attended one of his talks. They may have never even fully committed themselves to the spiritual life, or maybe never even run as far as a marathon. Yet still they have somehow heard of his historic accomplishments and felt in themselves an unmistakable inner thrill.

We know this to be true because once upon a time a young runner from Berdansk, Ukraine, felt this same thing. His name is Sarvagata. In Vinnitsa, also a young runner named Igor was dreaming of the 3100. Both thinking it was impossible, not just to run 3100 miles, but also to spend such a lengthy time here in New York so far far away from home.

Yet in their admiration of Stutisheel they found that the impossible was possible. That he was just the first of many who would follow in his steps and find their own places on the starting line. Find that transcendence is not to be taken lightly but with absolute willingness, cheerfulness, and surrender to whatever the inner experience commands that you do.

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August 2: Then I Knew I Was Going To Make It

There is some strong anecdotal evidence that suggests that at one time there was a sect of Buddhist monks in Tibet called the Lung-go-pa. Theirs was a life of absolute austerity and spiritual discipline. By practicing meditation and pranic breathing exercises they were able to perform incredible feats. It is said they could run tirelessly, for incredible distances across the barren landscape.

To observers it was so effortless it was almost as though they barely touched the ground. Their faces continually turned up to the sky, focusing on a single celestial object.

In her book, “Magic and Mystery in Tibet,” the author Alexandra David_Neel, wrote

“By that time he had nearly reached us; I could clearly see his perfectly calm impassive face and wide-open eyes with their gaze fixed on some invisible far distant object situated somewhere high up in space. The man did not run. He seemed to lift himself from the ground, proceeding by leaps. It look as if he had been endowed with the elasticity of a ball and rebounded each time his feet touched the ground.”

Less mythical and certainly very real are the marathon monks of Japan called Kaihigyo, a Buddhist sect based in Kyoto Japan. They are recognized as spiritual athletes and train extremely hard both in their exercise regime and in their meditation. Their ultimate goal is to one day complete a 1,000 day challenge. Only 46 men have completed this feat of fasting, chanting, and running in the last 130 years.

There is no simple all encompassing description for anything to do with the self transcendence race, other than the two words that make up its name.

After that the mental world flounders at trying to grasp the enormity and significance of how the runners do what they do, and more significantly just how powerful, peaceful, and transformative it is to be there and identify with it.

*Yesterday the injured Surasa increased her mileage once more and completed 106 laps (58 miles) She has 3 days to complete 168 more miles*

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