Perfection Journey

Just a few hours ago the Self Transcendence race, a grand multi day festival of running, of sport, and perhaps of life itself came to an end.  For 18 years now, during the often gentle and sometimes challenging Spring weather in New York, some version of it has taken place on a winding one mile loop.

It is both mysterious, difficult, wonderful, and transformative.  Of course the runners themselves usually have the best description of what draws them here.  Which usually starts with the typical goal of trying to cover as many miles as possible.

But that is just the first step of a much longer and more profound journey.  What usually occurs to each who takes part is something that is not so predictable or calculable.  Something that is not so easily described in the brochure, but which quickly becomes clearly evident to all those who run and take part.  That something, which is even more powerful, and can and usually does take place within each and every runner. Something not visible or illustrated by the numbers accumulating on the board beside their names.

Over the course of the race I have listened to many remarkable stories and seen miracles take place place, both large and small.  Things that also usually take place in the every day world around us but somehow get lost in the clutter and confusion of day to day life.

Here at the race it is a much simpler kind of experience.  Thinking and worrying are not to a runners greater advantage.  Come prepared yes, but also, at least for the time that you are here, experience the great and wonderful adventure of your own life’s transformation.

Wai Law is a perfect kind of story of what the race represents.  “I experienced a lot of things that I have never experienced before.  It is like a roller coast ride both emotionally and physically.”

I suggest to Wai that even though this is his first multi day race he must have known that this would be a factor.  “Yes but it was way beyond what I could imagine.”

He says the roller coaster ride was a good thing.  “I get to know myself better.”

I ask Wai, who got 330 miles and came in 8th whether or not having a self reflective experience as well had to be a real bonus.

“Yesterday I was near a break down point.  I was ready to give up.  I was running a fever.  I had pains every where and they seemed like they were not going away.”

“I stopped for a moment and thought…..maybe I should just give up.  But instead I gathered myself and went into the medical tent and spent 2 hours there to cool off and let my fever run down.  I came out like a new person.”

I ask Wai, that under normal circumstances he was going against traditional logic of  what one should do when faced with that kind of medical and physical condition.

“There is unlimited power inside a person.  It just depends on whether or not you want to dig deep and find it.”

I ask Wai what he may have learned from all of this that he might use later on in his life.

“Never give up.  Try and dig deep and see what is within yourself.  Go beyond what is in front of you.”

Click to Play Interview:

https://vimeo.com/126440820

Continue reading “April 29… Go Beyond What Is In Front Of You”

Mitch steps off the course with a look of contentment.  “I just did one of my morning laps and it was truly beautiful and amazing.”  For the past 9 mornings this has been one of the things he looks forward to most.  He never knows just who he will run with when he jogs over from his home on the other side of the Grand Central, but inevitably he matches stride with someone, and gets to learn their story.

“It is auspicious that I am here now.” Of course Mitch hasn’t just come here just to run a mile or two.  Mitch, or perhaps better expressed under the present circumstances, Dr. Mitch Proffman.  He is a chiropractor who has been helping the runners of the Self Transcendence races for many years.

He remembers how he ran his first marathon in 1993.  It turns out it was the New York city marathon and he noticed that there were many disciples of Sri Chinmoy also in that race.  He couldn’t help but notice the aphorism on the back of the shirts the disciples were wearing.

The determination in your heroic effort
Will permeate your mind and heart
Even after your success or failure
Is long forgotten.

He says that when the race is over tomorrow there will be some sadness for him.  He says the power and beauty of the race experience and living in the moment will be over.  “I was meditating this morning and what came to me.  This may not be the life you wanted.  But it is the life you have.”

He believes that not just for the runners but for all who help and identify with these kind of Self Transcendence events helps to keep them in the moment and to be present.

He says he has discussed this event with his office patients and they have no way of grasping the magnitude of running 2 marathons a day or as well the whole self transcendence concept.

“I am very grateful that I was able to be here now with the runners and the disciples and to give my service.  This is my yoga.”

Click to Play Interview:

https://vimeo.com/126322813

Continue reading “April 28… It Is Truly A Miracle”

“O my, that wind that first day battered us.”  For those who spend every waking hour trying to run as far as you can, a discussion of the weather is not just a casual conversation.  Bad conditions are not just a matter of adding a layer of clothing.  For multi day runners the weather is crucial and may, and often does impact dramatically on their performances.

A bad weather day can set off a series of tumbling dominoes that affect your performance and eventual outcome.  The significance of both hot and cold, and wind and rain is extraordinary.   The Ultimate consequences of which may be, of not just missing a few additional miles, but also causing (almost) intolerable hardship and suffering.

Dipali jokes about her windy and cold first day of the 6 day race.   “Nobody knew who anybody was, because they were all covered up.”  At which point she pulls her face scarf  up over her nose, leaving very few recognizable bits of face remaining.  That seems like a long time ago, and by the board at least,  a little more than 300 miles back down the track.

In this her 18th year at the race  Dipali has seen just about everything that nature has had to offer.  As we are running on the far side of the course we pass Shirley Kolakovich who is running her first 6 day race.  I ask Dipali about her first experience in running a multi day.

“My first race was 1991, the 7 day race in Flushing, and o my……. I was clueless. I did not know how to do these races.” (laughs)

She uses quite a few uncomplimentary adjectives to describe her attitude at the time. She sums the experience up by saying, “I was really bad.”

Her spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy heard about her discomfort and offered her the option of making a strategic exit from the event but also tactfully queried her,  could she not keep trying and in addition….. try laughing.

She admits, “I didn’t want to laugh.”

But as she recalls now with a big smile and a sweep of her hands, the moment she started laughing she was able to simultaneously release all the tension that she was hanging on to.  She says now that first race was simply so new and so hard that she didn’t understand what the whole event was really about.

“It just shows that if you put determination into something, and practice meditation, that you can really do extraordinary things in your life.” The span of her career so far, and all her achievements in this world of distance running are amazing.

The lake is off to her left, the sun, at least for now is bright and high in the sky over hers shoulder, and…… there is no wind blowing. “Every lap has a story, and each runner will tell you that each lap is a journey.”

She also says that one of her strategies is to simply feel childlike and play around a bit.  “That child like spirit gives me energy.  I am very determined out here as you can see.  I don’t waste time even for one second.  It does make you happy.  It brings an energy.  It brings a force.  But you  have to believe in yourself, and you have to believe in that force.”

Dipali is currently leading everyone in the 6 day race.  She says her real competition is looking back at what she did last year here.  “I did 475.  I am thinking abut that.  I am not thinking about anybody else.”  She says the goal of self transcendence for herself is always the main motivator.

We pass the New York worlds fair unisphere and start heading back to the camp.  She says the past 24 hours have been particularly hard.  She will not make 70 miles for the day but she is not dejected.  The race always has a way of teaching you a lesson, on not just the need for, but also on all the infinite varieties on the theme of humility.

She remembers a time when she was able to run mileage every day in the high 80’s.  She reflects upon this long long period of running excellence that shows no sign of ending, with tremendous gratitude.  “It is not me.  I am just being so blessed with this opportunity.”

Her hands sweep open.  “I can only thank Sri Chinmoy for making these races such an important role in our lives.”

Click to Play Interview:

Continue reading “April 27…Each Lap A Journey”

“I just had a soccer match behind my tent as I was trying to sleep.”  She confesses that she got a bit grumpy which just may be why she is out now on the loop pounding out another mile….”But its good.”

Holding a multi day race in a public park will always have its short comings.  Sarah Barnett has been running now for 7 days straight, noisy kids are probably well down on her list of the inconveniences and annoyances that she has had to endure.  Despite the relentless wind, the cold, and a day of endless rain Sarah has been superb.  She not only leads the ladies 10 day field with 469 miles she also, for good measure, is 10 miles ahead of the leading man.

I ask her about her ideas on competition.  “If we are still living in the desire life than we are fighting to win.  We are all human.   That is the name of the game.  We all set out to train hard and do as well as you can.  But in the end it is kind of empty.  If that is the only thing you are running for.”

“There has to be some deeper purpose to it I guess.”

I suggest to Sarah that since she has run a lot of these races, she probably has as good an idea as anybody on what that deeper thing is.  “I think it is like an inner silence, that you don’t really have in your regular life.”

“I always feel that I can come into the race with different life issues.”  Than she has 10 days of silence, excluding soccer playing children, to really reflect and appreciate all the aspects of her life.  This provides her ample opportunity to pray, and sing spiritual songs…….(jokes) “and running, eating and sleeping.  Then things just simplify.”

“Everyone here tries and have a spiritual outlook…..let God’s will be done. Then you are happy.  In the big scheme of life it doesn’t really matter who comes first or second.” (laughs)

She thinks it is hard for people who are not running to understand this.  With all the runners, no matter their mileage, they all share the same struggle. “We are all pushing our bodies to the limit.”

Sarah describes that the combination of everything creates a powerful experience. “It gets you out of your ego.  If you are just concentrating on yourself alone, it is really boring.  It gets to be too much.  You have to laugh with people.  It is a unique experience.  That is why I keep signing up for the next race…. and the next race….. and the next race.”

“It is a really beautiful experience…… as well as suffering and tiredness.”

* Click On Picture Below…. and then again on next … to Play Interview:

Continue reading “April 26…Really Beautiful Experience”

“It will take a lap or 2 and I will get running again.”

Greg Ellis is typical in many ways of all the runners out here competing in the Self Transcendence races.

At the moment he is moving slowly, a pace just a notch up from amble but not quite power walking.  He has however been on the course for much of the past 2 days and has just come off a break.  But what he also has to deal with in addition to cold windy New York weather is the fact that just 2 years ago he had a hip replaced.  A fact that he does not embellish or say in order to draw sympathy.

“When I go long mileage it gets inflamed and starts to affect everything else down my leg.”

Gregg lives in Georgia and this is his first trip to New York.  Earlier I had joked with him about site seeing instead of running for 6 days.  He confesses now, “Earlier this morning there was a lot more things that looked more interesting.  I had a low point.  Then the sun started coming up and I started feeling better.”

“I expect that.   You get extreme highs and lows in these kind of events.  I was used to it and ready for it.  They can be tough sometimes.”

Gregg says that by learning to overcome the kind of adversity he experiences in multi day racing he tries to transfer to other life experiences.

“Ultra races definitely teach you a lot about yourself.  You learn that you can go beyond things that you once thought were impossible, and things you couldn’t even fathom.  I can do a lot more than I think I can do.  It is very empowering when you finish one of these races.”

We talk about the older runners in the race.  “They are an inspiration to me.”

Gregg says the experience he is having here is quite different than any other race he has taken part in.  “It is amazing.  You can feel, the love, the warmth, and the peace here. It is just a whole different feeling.  It is a perfect title for it…Self Transcendence.”

Click To Play Interview:

Other runners included….John Geesler, Shirley Kolakovich, Wai Law, Rimas Jakelaitis, Mahasatya Janczak, and Steven Battle

https://vimeo.com/126017719

Continue reading “April 25…Teaches You A Lot”

He has held the lead for 5 days and shows no sign of easing his pace in the still long journey that lies ahead.  He is after all only half way to his goal.  There are still 5 more days to go.  In some ways a 10 day race would look easy compared with what he has already accomplished in a race he ran each year consecutively for 7 straight years, just a few miles away.

Atmavir Spacil completed the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race in the allotted time each year that he competed.  But last summer 2014, was a year off for him.  But now as you watch him gracefully running the loop here in Flushing Meadow, it would appear that there is a lot more competitive running left ahead for this 36 old runner.

I mention Gerogs Jermolajevs who is twice his age and at the half way point of the race is just 48 miles behind.  “We like each other.”

“Sri Chinmoy had great respect for him.”  (He won the 2700 mile race in 1997)…..”He is like a legend.  Because of his age he is really inspiring younger people, and he is also pushing the age limit.”

I ask Atmavir if he could see himself doing this same competitive running when he is 72.  “Actually this thought came to my mind.”  He admits that as he pondered this, and admits that at first he was a little scared, but then realized…..”come what may.  Why not.  I love multi day races.”

Atmavir, originally from the Czech Republic is now currently living in Ottawa.  He says that one of the reasons he decided to run the 10 day race even though in about a month he will be taking part in the 3100 was because so many of his friends had decided to take part.  “There is such a family here.   There is such a spirit of oneness.”

He also describes how fleeting a moment victory really is, even for professional athletes.  “What counts is what you did here.”

Click to Play Interview:

https://vimeo.com/125966425

Continue reading “April 24… What You Do Here”

Continue reading “Into The Night”