Perfection Journey

Last year when Surasa, not only won the women’s division of the 3100 mile race for the 4th time, she also set a new world record.

Back then, at age 56, certainly no one would have been surprised if she had immediately then just simply decided to not ever leave her quiet office job in Vienna and come again and spend a long hot summer running around Thomas Edison high school.  Even at the end of May she was not convinced in fact that she was prepared and strong enough to do it.

“Then something changed.”  With 14 days to go before the start inspiration came and she booked her flight to New York

“I am feeling good and I am feeling at home.  I am happy to be here again.”

“Each year I am saying this is the last time.  But then I get inspired and I come back again.”

“This race is always in my mind.  It is so strong when you have to do it.”

At the same time it is never completely easy for her to come to the starting line.

“You think when you do this race you must be very strong.  When you see some weakness in the body then it becomes very difficult.  Then you start to doubt yourself.  This is not a good thing.”

In order to avoid pressure Surasa says that she never sets any goals.  “I don’t want to have the pressure of just focusing on mileage.”

When asked how she stays so happy she says, “I don’t recognize it.  It is normal for me.”

“I have a prayer.  Many times I say I just want to run, soulfully, cheerfully, and gratefully.  This is my goal that I can do this.”

Continue reading “June 23… Run Soulfully, Cheerfully, and Gratefully”

I ask Shamita a tough question.  She has been running for 3 days already and other than some digestion problems yesterday, she is doing great.  She starts the day with 185 miles and I am curious just how possible it is for her, or any of the other runners for that matter stay cheerful.

“I feel you enter a sphere where this is possible.  I cannot explain but it just happens to you here.”

Even though this is the 51 year old Viennese runners first time at the 3100 she has lots of experience running multi days.

Shamita says in other long races by the 4th day you are in this sphere.  “You can recover from every race very very quickly.  The most important thing is the joy.  It really gives you wings.”

“If it doesn’t get too hot I will be very happy.”

As for her coming here and running the race she confesses that she never really thought about it.  She was a pioneer in the ultra world since the 1980’s, and even 2 years ago ran 640 miles in the 10 day race and got 2nd place.

But the idea of running the 3100 never was too far off her horizon.  “Slowly you grow into this.  You prepare mentally, emotionally, and of course physically.”

“I think mainly this race is a race of the heart.  If you can shut down your mind, not allow it to disturb you, and then amazingly you can really feel the difference.  As soon as you go out of your mind.  A huge flow of energy is there.

(She pauses and smiles) Of course this is not always so easy.”

A good thing is that I am just trying to enjoy running.  I force myself not to think about what day it is, what lap.  Just be here.  So far I have managed.  Let’s hope it goes on like this.”

When ask if these races change you.  “This is the reason why I do them.  I hope, definitely.  For me this race gives me the same feeling as from 10 years ago when Guru was still with us.”

“It is like he is here. Totally.  All this light.  His presence is so visible.  It is amazing.”

Continue reading “June 22… Race of the Heart”

“This is my 12th race.”

As 41 year old Ananda-Lahari starts his 3rd day of running here he has so far completed 154 miles.  Not very much when you consider he still has just a little less than 3000 more miles yet to go.  But when all the other miles from all those other years are added up the number is staggering.

The full distance he has completed 5 times but that when added to all the other years, well it is just unbelievable.

https://vimeo.com/171615645

“For sure I wanted to do it as many times as possible.  But I had no idea what it meant to do it so many times.”  For Ananda-Lahari he feels as though each race is a lifetime.

What sets apart this race from all the others is that as of this morning he is leading the race.  Something he doesn’t give much importance too.  “If you imagine you are running a marathon and you run very well the first 100 meters.  It is a nice feeling but the marathon is 42km.”

“I think when I started these races I was like a baby.  Very fragile and I don’t think I could handle much.  I think I have become stronger.  Again life can surprise you.  You never know.  For sure my body is stronger.”

“One of the most important things is to have gratitude.  I want this gratitude so that I can really value my life.”

“Most of us are just living.  Getting up and going to work.  Spending time with friends or family.  It just goes on and on.  Time goes on.  We don’t realize until our life is almost at the end.  And then when ask……what was it for?”

“This race forces us to live in the moment.  Not to think of tomorrow.  The race is so long and it is hard, you can’t just think of tomorrow.”

“We are all just instruments.  I would like to feel this more.  That it is not my effort but that it is something within me.  That everything is done through me by my soul.  By the divine in me.”

Continue reading “June 21… Something Within Me”

Yesterday 54 year old Volodymyr Hlushchuk on his first day in the Self Transcendence 3100 mile ran 74 miles.  He has been waiting for this opportunity for more than a decade and he is grateful and glad that it has at last arrived.

https://vimeo.com/171471278

“For many years I have been looking forward to taking part in this race.”  It was back in 2004 that he had first applied but was turned down.  “After that I submitted my application many many more times.”

Volodymyr gradually realized that as much as he thought he was ready each time he applied he wasn’t. “I needed to grow a little more.”

This year he says he simply surrendered and didn’t even apply.  However it was not unnoticed that he did a personal best in the 10 day race just 6 weeks earlier with 643 miles.  After which he was taking it easy and simply preparing himself for next years 10 day race.  “Then all of a sudden they invited me to the race.”

To his surprise he suddenly felt, ” I am not ready.”

The race director told him though that he thought that he was ready.  Volodymyr took this very seriously, as if his late spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy was requesting this of him in and through the race director.  “I realized then that I must run.”

Still he was surrendered and inwardly asked for help from his late teacher asking for him to please run in and through him.

He laughs as he describes this experience now on his 2nd day.  “Basically Guru is running in and through me.”  Beaming with joy he adds, “I don’t know how this is happening.”

When asked what his goals might be he says that he is only trying to find happiness at every moment.  “To see Guru in front of me.”

So far he feels as though he is being guided along very directly.  Knowing spontaneously when to run and when to rest. “Through my soul he is showing me how to orchestrate all this.

“With this approach no matter how far Guru wants me to run I am happy.  I feel good and everything is good.  Therefore I have no plans in the mileage or in what place I may get.”

Translation courtesy of Lyalya

Continue reading “June 20…Happiness At Every Moment”

At 6 a.m. this morning the 3100 mile race started for the 20th year in a row.

For Ashprihanal his appearance here for the 14th time is something truly historic and significant.  This 45 year old runner from Finland set the record here last year and could so easily have left it at that, but he did not.  Last year as well he equaled Suprabha’s incredible record of running the race 13 times.

Something spoke within him.  The champion enters the ring once more.  His joy and delight writ large across him.

This morning he is sharing this special moment but as well with a Joy Day taking place in Austria.  You can hear them cheering in the background.

Stutisheel is running the race for the 12th time.  “Every day is new.  Every breath is new.  Every 3100 is new even if you have done it before.  It is a new challenge, it is something big and I am looking forward to it.”

Stutisheel feels calm in these few minutes before the race.  He says what worries he might have had all came and past earlier in the week. “But now I am pretty good.  I am at peace.  I am focused.”

He wears a headband that Sri Chinmoy gave to him in 2006.

Link to his website:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stutisheel-your-ultra-running-coach/

Sahishnu said before the race started, “The real reason for the race is to inspire other people in other walks of life.  To get them out of their comfort zone and to try and achieve a little bit more, and to also discover other capacities inside themselves.  That is the ultimate goal.”

“To see that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.  You can say this about a lot of other ultra races they are a long test, but this is a long long long test.  It is like running from Los Angeles to New York with a also a side trip to Trenton New Jersey.”

Continue reading “June 19th… To See That Ordinary People Can Do Extraordinary Things”

It is a warm Saturday afternoon in New York.  A group of 12 runners has gathered to have some Pizza, get further instructions, and to enjoy the last few precious moments of relaxation before they embark on the hardest task imaginable, run 3100 miles.

It is a pleasant and almost tranquil hour as all the discussions and nibbling takes place.  No one is rushing and no one hurries, all that will come soon enough.  Also what will come soon enough is the torment of a hot and humid New York summer.  Which is actually just one of the devilish ingredients that make the epic journey in front of them all that much harder, if not impossible.

Yet they all will try as hard as humanly possible and even when they have done as many laps as they think they can they will somehow do more.  Find strength and courage and determination that is not at all about muscle or of mind.

Instead it comes from an inner place within themselves.  A source that continues to surprise all who search there.  Because what can continuously be revealed is that what we all have, what we all can do, and what we all can become is so much more.

Ashprihanal running for the 14th time.

Shoes off

A smile

The girls

Continue reading “June 18th… You Will Be Changed For The Better”