It has been a place for celebration and a place to experience pain. There is never enough sleep for anyone, and yet everyone begins to see sleep as an elusive friend who promises much and sometimes gives back much less than bargained for. Perhaps all have wished at some time, in the dark of night to take a wrong turn on the course and just keep going until they hopefully found a place called home. The miserly miles accumulate with such reluctance and at such a exorbitant cost one might logically think it better to simply to stay in your sleeping bag and dream of a silent and sweet lonesome hilltop.
But there are silly thoughts that vanish almost before they spray carelessly from the mind and then there are heart dreams. Powerful messages that push through the chaff and clutter of the mind and show the straight true path of life. For 9 days for some and 5 days for the rest, the Self Transcendence race 
has been their lives. A 24 hour a day reality that never ceases to surprise you and yet in the end inspires you to reach high and travel further than you have ever dreamed possible.
There has been heat and cold and now on this the last day of the adventure the rain pours down out of a black sky and no one knows when it will stop.
The thin plastic roof of the counting shack fills so quickly with water that it cascades down the front like a small river.
It rains so heavily in the late afternoon that most just stay dry in the dugout. Radi, Pratishrhutti, and Elena. The rain however proves to be a fickle mistress. It relents but does not give up.
Dipali is running today with beauty and precision. At noon today, with 24 hours to go, she learned that she was just 81 miles away from reaching her record. On the surface it seems doable, and yet who knows what nature will decide to bequeath on this brave and hardy band as they head into the long night and then as the new day blossoms.
Pam Reed is also running well and continues to demonstrate her heart, courage, talent, and will to go on. The gap between her and Dipali has shifted slowly wider like some tectonic plate beneath the earth. The presence of the other has helped them both and in the months and years to come they will remember well the look and gait of the other which they saw so often over 6 long days of racing.
Pam says, “Its been great. Its been difficult and I didn’t quite know how to maneuver it. I think I did what I could do.” For Pam every step past 300 miles has been new territory. Even how to juggle rest and the road have been new challenges that have not easily offered up solutions. As the record of 510 has slipped inexoribly from reach she has found another goal to help push and inspire her through this last day and that is the American record of 487. A distance that is now just 56 miles away.
She says, “It is neat to see how far you can push yourself.” There is also the reality that all multi day runners have to accept and face, which is, “You just have to keep going.” She also had a unique experience happen to her yesterday that was completely unexpected. She describes a moment in which she says she felt a sense of profound inner peace. She describes it as though it was a meditative experience. She says, “what it felt like is what I think his message is,” referring to Sri Chinmoy the inspiration for the Self Transcendence race.
She talks about pushing herself to new limits and yet at the same time being detached from the effort and instead enjoy a real sense of peace. As she looks back at the last 6 days she says, “I guess I learned a lot.”
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“A long weary experience for me,” says Machupran who saw his goals evolve and change at almost every step. He now wants to simply finish tomorrow with the numbers 777 on the board. Yet for this supremely talented athlete I would not be surprised at anything. One goal which is unlikely to change is as he says, “to end the race with a smile on my face.”
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Sarah Barnett says, “I am happy because I went beyond the last race I did. I am very grateful” Like most runners she envisioned some higher numbers but will still easily come away with a new personal record. Being here with people who share her own love of running and wish to transcend means it is so easy to feel at home and enjoy the little vibrant community. She is inspired by so many who have achieved new records. She says, “I hope each race we try and go beyond.”
“I have done 437 miles in the 6 day and I hope to do 700 miles by tomorrow.” Kaneenika has pushed past personal bests in almost every front. She says, “I feel that if I go beyond my physical problems and concentrate more inside, I feel I can transcend myself.” The distance between herself and her goal of 700 miles is just 47 miles right now. Her inner goal she has no doubt already achieved.
photo by Jowan
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Joe Cleary says, “I have rescheduled my thoughts and I am running 50 km a day which sounds okay to me.” His goal of 300 miles has proved a little too ambitious for this 69 year old from Canada. He has run more than double his previous total mileage and the experience is so positive he wants to come back. He says about next years race, “I will be here.”
His helper Cheryl says, “It is amazing watching all these people it really is inspiring. It makes you think you can do anything.”
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Darren Worts has 379 miles and his folks survived the night in their car in the parking lot.
Roman Dzieriatka has 185 and will likely take in a baseball game tomorrow after the race is over.
Pete Stringer has 279 miles.
A short while ago there was celebrating for Pati Libinova 44 Chelyabinsk Russia who just ran 300 miles in her first multi day race.
Nirbili File says, “the hot weather was no good.” But nonetheless the experience for her and her husband Nick, “was extremely deeply satisfying.”
Vlastimil Dvoracek 49, Czech Republic, says, “I came to have a good race and did better than I expected.”
Pradeep Hoogakker 30 Den Haag Netherlands tells me that in the first few days of the race the experience is more superficial than in the later stages, where he says, “you can experience peace and timelessness.” He is 34 miles from surpassing last years total of 481.
Michel Gouin says, “You have to be very strong mentally to run this kind of race. You have to have an open mind.” He currently has run 492 miles and hopes to surpass his total from last year of 541.
“The whole race I have been pain free,” says Tirtha Voelckner 37 Munich Germany. When she came to this race last year for the first time the longest race she had previously entered was 24 hours. In last years race she ran 503 miles and at this point late in the afternoon, with many hours to go, she is just a few miles from last years total. She says about this years race, “I am very glad I came out again.”
She feels in this years race she has been relatively pain free by not worrying about the miles but instead, concentrating on each lap as it comes. To live in the moment and more importantly, concentrate on her heart.
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“I have been doing kitchen runs, keeping runners happy,” says Asankita who has come from New Zealand, the last few years, to work on the race from start to finish. He says that for him there is a joy factor involved with helping the runners achieve their goals that brings him back each year.
Visitors of all kinds come to the race.
Sushovita had her birthday party here with lots of cake and song.
“10 days is really a very big journey. we cannot compare it to the 6 days.” When he last came to this race in 2005 Arun Bhardwaj 40, India ran the 6 day race for the first time and ran 346 miles. He says his experience here is a spiritual journey.
When he describes pain he looks upon it with a unique perspective. He feels that nothing can compare to a Mother’s pain when she gives birth. It is with this philosophy he feels he can endure much more. He had hoped to achieve 500 miles in this race but has learned from the experience here that, “the mind does not work only the heart works.”
He feels that he also has a mission to accomplish. He hopes his achievements can inspire and make more dynamic his fellow Indians and the country as a whole. One of his fellow runners called Arun, “One in a Billion.”
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“It is the best organized event I have ever been to.” Brian Marshall is tired going into his 10th, and last day of the race, but seems very pleased with the 415 miles he has achieved walking the whole way. “Its been great,” he says. He relates to me a message he received from a friend of his in South Africa. His friend said to him, “Don’t mess around cause you are going to blink and it will be all over.”
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By no means does self–transcendence
Mean an impossible task,
And possibility can and must reach
Self–transcendence-shore.
Excerpt from Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, Part 13 by Sri Chinmoy.
I arrive at the race this evening and hear some shocking news. Madhupran is talking with Dipali who is still a few days away from starting her race. He says, “My race is over.” He points to his knee and indicates that there is a problem there. What makes this news even more surprising is that through his first 24 hours he had run 136 miles. It was a pace that could easily have pushed him comfortably towards his goal of 1000 miles in 10 days. Since that time however he has done just an additional 9 miles.
For a man who has just had such a dramatic turn of events occur, Madhupran appears amazingly calm. I think it prudent to not to ask too much at this time. Later I will see him back on the course and walking instead of running.
“It’s great, it’s a new experience for me.” Muslim is standing in front of the counting hut and calling out names of the runners as they approach. It is one of the many jobs that is so crucial to making sure the event goes smoothly. He tells me that the longest race he had ever worked on prior to this is a 24 hour race back in his home town of Aukland New Zealand. He says, “It is really amazing being around people who are really pushing themselves and trying to transcend. It really reflects on Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy of never giving up and self-transcendence. He adds that he is so inspired he just might one day try and run it himself.
Kaneenika has had a good first day, she has run over 100 miles. She leads the other women runners by more than 10 miles. She tells me, “I trained as much as I could and I have done everything that I thought would help me in the race. We will see if I have done the right thing. I have been preparing almost the whole year.”
“It was very hard conditions for me.” Arun Bhardwaj is a 40 year old runner from New Delhi India and he is telling me the shock he experienced when he came and ran the 6 day race in 2003. How leaving India and 42C weather and arriving just a few hours before the start of the race and having to adjust to 4C New York climate.
He tells me that in India there are no ultra distance runners. He felt that by running in very challenging races he would inspire his children to become world class runners. He says, “I do it so that they will have some icon for them. I think it is good that there own father is an example for them. This is the reason I am doing these ultra distance runs.”
In the race in 2003 he became the first Indian to complete more than 500km in a race. I asked him why he would come here for such an event when there must be races closer to his home in India. He says, ” I heard that the Sri Chinmoy Marathon team puts on the best races in the world, and I saw that also when I came here last time.”
“The organization is perfect,” says Daniella Miliev who is translating for her dad Radi. She has come t0 help her father run the 10 day race and both Father and Daughter seem to be having a great time. Radi is 60 years old and has run nearly 20 multi day races and this is his first time running in a Sri Chinmoy Marathon team event.
The dugout is a place for brief and necessary breaks. Tirtha is getting some help with her shins.
He describes how all the runners get a better consciousness by participating and that all who help can experience this as well. He says, “I am part of this race too.”
Iris, from Christchurch NZ is running her second multi day race. She has never run further than 248 miles and has already completed 60 here.
Yogi Beara, an iconic figure in American sports, once said, “It’s not over till its over.” All the time I am at the race Madhupran continues to move. He is walking swiftly and determindly. I cannot help but wonder what will happen with him in the days to follow.
Give 
At precisely noon today a little temporary Universe sprang joyously to life. For all intent and purpose it appears pecariously perched on the edge of a damp park in New York city. Its life span will last not much longer than a rose but in the brief time the Self-Transcendence race goes on in Flushing Meadow miracles will be taking place in every mile run and for some perhaps, in every moment.
Madhupran Schwerk wears number one and for good reason. The afternoon is just beginning to slip away and already the margin between himself and the next runner is expanding rapidly. He is running smooth and fast and he appears to be on a mission. In his previous visits to this race he has told me that he was inspired to come because of a significant experience. He says, “It is the first time I have come here without having a dream or vision. I have come only for my own self.”
Last year his wife had told him not to run competitively and he was inspired nonetheless instead to run hard. The weather turned hard, cold, and wet against him. Yet ultimately he found a new purpose in his running in the later stages and ended with not a new record but instead a great 
The running conditions are almost ideal. The overcast skies will keep temperatures from getting cold over the long evening ahead. There is no rain forecast and the equally nasty face of nature, the wind, appears not to be a factor. Nearly all have run at least 20 miles since noon. There are yet to be any aches or pains and the road now is realatively dry.
Of course the crew has worked long and hard to not only pump dry the course but also put the finishing touches to the village itself. The crew chief Bipin takes a little break by demonstrating hammer spinning.
The helpers who work behind the scenes cannot ever get enough credit for their tireless efforts. Their journeys are not as obvious as taking one mile laps on the course but still what they do helps so much and in so many ways the lives of the runners.
Yesterday Fred Davis was just setting up his tent. He and his wife Flo had come to New York from Cleveland. It is Fred’s 3rd time at this race but the 1st for Flo. She tells me that he has brought her this time to keep him awake. She says, “If he keeps running by the 24th hour he is in a groove.” She says that when he came back from the race last year he had been disappointed at the time he spent sleeping and that if he hadn’t slept so much he could have run more miles.
There are of course many familiar faces who have returned here. Luis Rios has run many of the Sri Chinmoy events and completed 511 miles here last year.
Radi Milev is here for the first time.
Yesterday I noticed some new faces. They belonged to Brian Marshall and his wife Brenda who had come all the way from South Africa. He had heard about the event from some friends who had been here a few years ago and says, “I always wanted to do this event. It was time to do a 10 day.” He has never gone 10 days before in a multi day event.
He is walking very smooth and quickly as we move along the course. He tells me that he cannot run anymore but that he was always a good walker and is finding now that he can cover more distance in walking then he ever could as a runner.
He also mentions that he has been noticing all the spring buds on the trees in the park. When he and Brenda left South Africa it was fall and leaves were falling there. He says, ” before I go home all these buds will be leaves.” This makes him smile.
