Perfection Journey

This morning Igor makes a small joke with Sarvagata.   This marvelous young runner, from Vinnitsa Ukraine, is is looking at the daily lap sheet report and points out to his friend, “you only made 99 laps yesterday.”

It is just part and parcel of the quiet and gentle humor that is Igor.  Sarvagata of course had no reason to run even one additional lap yesterday.  For on that day he completed his journey.  In the process setting a record for first time runners of the 3100.

Tomorrow perhaps another runner will also be able to make a joke about Igor’s laps,  for most certainly they will be much less then his friend Sarvagata.  Today of course, after he completes just 12 miles more, his race will also be over, and he will be the second finisher of the Self Transcendence 3100 mile race.

A few hours later, when he at last has taken his final step and he felt the ribbon of the finish line embrace his chest.  I ask, are you overwhelmed?  “It is not overwhelming.  My consciousness is so spread out that I can’t join it together.”

He has tremendous experience in multi day running, I ask if any other race can compare to this.  “This race is so big that I cannot compare it to any other.  My mind cannot compare it to anything else.”

When he finished his race, he gave no speech, made no grand gestures of celebration, other than to offer up a sweet and humble smile. Yet it was within that smile that there was a brilliance and a brightness that was not overshadowed by the morning sun itself beaming through the canopy of trees.  He had only one request, that Sri Chinmoy’s song, My Own Gratitude Heart, be sung.  Those who were there to celebrate his victory obliged.  I ask him why he asked for it, and he says, “I heard it inside myself all morning.”

Continue reading “July 27: Comes From Within”

Sarvagata’s sister, Sarvadhara is with her brother on this his final few hours here at the race.  This morning he will simply continue to do what he has done now for so many long days.  At the end of this day though, he needs go no further, and what is more, he will also be the champion.

He has but 55 miles more to go now, so small a gap it is almost as though his foot is already poised to step at last across the finish line.  Just a few laps more,  when compared to all the suffering and joy he has experienced and endured now for 44 days.  Using an American expression, I tell her that what he has left to do now is but a ‘piece of cake.’  I ask her if there might be a better expression in Ukrainian.  She says his race is like a, ‘Gift from Heaven.’  Her expression is much better.

It was a little more than a month ago that she was able to visit her brother only briefly before having to leave for Chicago.  “He has changed a lot.  Outwardly his appearance has changed.  He became darker and thinner. (laughter) And stronger.  Also I feel that something inside him also changed.  He became more sensitive, more subtle.  It is difficult to explain, but he is like a soul here.  I cannot see his body, it is something very new for me.  Any way he is my brother and I feel a deep connection with him.  I am very happy that I am here and can be in touch with his experience.”

When I saw her last she was a little disappointed that she would not be able to spend the entire time helping her brother.  In fact she was able to be with him for less than a day.  “Of course in every situation we have to see some positive sides.  We just have to look for it.  If I couldn’t be here I feel it was very important for me to dive deep within and try to feel what is going on.  But it is better to be here.” (laughter)

Instead of being her brother’s helper the job fell upon the very capable and tireless shoulders of Dimitry.  “When you have a supporter it is definitely easier to run.”  She describes how he supported Sarvagata both inwardly and outwardly.  On a practical level he simply had to rarely stray from the straightest possible course.  Those few extra steps Dimitry did for him, she says.  “Every lap, 4 or 5 steps.  He saved time and he saved energy for Sarvagata.”

 

 

 

Click to Play Part 1

[audio:http://perfectionjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sarvadhara1.mp3|titles=sarvadhara1]

 

Continue reading “July 26: Gift From Heaven”

Early this morning Pradeep showed me something wonderful.  We had run a few laps together and I was just about to go when he invited me over to his table and he pulled this amazing picture out of his bag.  He was really happy and proud to show it to me and I could see why.  For it showed the front of the Health Food store in Den Haag in which he is the manager.  In his absence his employees, instead of goofing off, have dedicated the entire front window of the shop to him and his exploits here at the 3100 mile race.

Front in center of the window is posted his daily mileage which all his friends are anxiously watching as well as I am sure the customers who know him so well too.  I can just imagine the person whose job it is to go to the results page and print it out every day.  Now with just 11 days of running left just about everyone can start wiggling all 10 fingers and come up with the exact math of what he needs to do.

 

Continue reading “July 25: That’s Possible”

They are the quiet heroes.  They are but 10 and yet though so small in number, these runners are a veritable army rising up to challenge impossibility.  If you look for champions who wear capes and wave magic wands they will not impress you at all.  For their foes are not diabolical wizards but things that can subdue us all, like weather and weariness.

When our most crushing enemy is a simple lack of faith in ourselves they demonstrate each day, by simply lacing up their shoes that all ignorance can be defeated. You just have to try.

Just a day ago they entered a battle like most had never seen.  Nature launched a twin salvo of suffering.  With one hand it threw at them heat and with the other it showered them with humidity.  A deadly combination that ground much of the city and country into submission and yet they continued to respond as best they could.

Slowed, and certainly humbled, they nonetheless ambled on through it all.  Each making at least 40 miles when much of the rest of humanity was scampering to  shelter at beaches and cozy air conditioned homes.

Not surprising, at least not to those who have watched the great escapade unfold this summer, is that the ones who surrendered to it least of all were Pranjal and Surasa.

Somehow Pranjal, with his big Slovak engine inside, churned and rumbled his way all the way to 57 miles (104 laps) on Friday.  The gentle Austrian lady Surasa also completed 104 laps.  She who is skipping lightly over any of our usual notions about surrendering to the limitations of age.  Each day she continues to prove that has to be composed of some much more tougher stuff inside.  There are times when it appears as though she just makes it all looks so easy and almost effortless.   As though we all could be quiet heroes.

Continue reading “July 24: It Is Just Real”

Due to the severe nature of the current weather forecast for the New York region the race has been postponed for 24 hours. The Self Transcendence race will resume once again on Sunday morning.

The race directors made this decision in the best interest of all the runners who will now take a well deserved break and try and recoup from Friday’s severe conditions.  The health and safety of the runners is their first and foremost objective.

A decision has also been made to extend the running schedule by 2 additional days.  This means that when running resumes the total available running time for the runners will be 54 days now and not 52.

Please check out this space tomorrow when the race resumes.  I appreciate any and all interest in this race and hope you can find some inspiration in my daily stories.

As always the runners can be contacted by sending Emails to:

ny@srichonmoyraces.org

Do you remember how your mother used to wake you up on schooldays.  My Mom had just that special kind of tone to her voice that I assume most mothers just naturally use with their children.  It was a blend of affection, tireless support, and just the right hint of the much tougher parenting material.  Every morning here for the past 40 days Rupantar has had a similar kind of tone to roust exhausted runners out of chairs and gradually get them shuffling towards the starting line.  Today he was using some of the tough love talk that I have rarely heard him use before.

Conditions, not just in New York, but across the entire east coast have now dramatically shifted from intolerable to dangerous.  When people from other places suggest that it can’t be that bad because they regularly experience temperatures  which are just as hot. People here resort to an age old mantra, ‘It is not the heat it is the humidity.” Rupantar was going around to all the runners and asking them to be extra careful.

He said to Atmaivr, “Start drinking now.  Don’t be afraid that you are not going to finish the race.  If you have to, slow down.  You know what you have to do.  You are going to finish the race.  Today you just want to survive.  If you want to take a long break it is okay.”

“It is hotter than the hottest.  This is as hot as it gets.  Some of the runners are new, and they haven’t experienced it.  If they are not careful I will pull them out of the race.  It is as simple as that.”

click to play clip

[audio:http://perfectionjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/rupantar.mp3|titles=rupantar]

Continue reading “July 22: Happiness Has To Come”

Sometime 2 days ago Ashprihanl’s check engine light had to flicker on.  He was pushing himself to a new record that day, having completed 24 straight days of 70 miles or more per day.  With just a little more than 300 miles to go he could literally see the finish line in front of him.  At his current pace it was now just a few days off.  The footsteps of the young Ukranians had gradually drifted back to what had to be a comfortable distance behind him.  He had to feel that on this his 11th year here he would not just have another victory but also a new personal best.

The human body is not as precise as the engineering of even an inexpensive car.  We don’t come with owner’s manuals, service schedules, or on board lights and dials of any kind.  Somewhere though, deep within Ashprihanal’s brain, some little neuron had to be sparking a danger signal.  It was trying to tell him to check his fluid intake or slow down, or perhaps simply a combination of the 2.

The conditions now on the course are atrocious.  It has been and continues to be so hot that you can barely take in enough fluid to complete even just one short lap.  Everyone is sweating continually but you cannot cool because the moisture simply does not evaporate in the stifling humidity. By late yesterday afternoon Ashprihanal’s body simply could not go on.  He had pushed beyond the point of recovering by sitting in the shade and drinking many cups of water.

Continue reading “July 21: Every Day A New Day”

“The main quality I felt this morning was gratitude.”  Just before dawn, and with just a few precious minutes to spare, Atmavir slipped alone into the quiet hallowed  garden which is the Aspiration Ground.  It is the local place close by that was once the main gathering place, in which the students of Sri Chinmoy used to meet on a regular basis with their late spiritual teacher.  It is a sacred place still, in which his presence continues to be intimately felt and experienced by all those who continue to value his teachings.

For the past 5 summers Atmavir has offered up himself wholeheartedly to his personal battle ground, the 3100 mile race.  Here conflict of all kinds takes place but which is mostly unobservable by those who watch from the side, for it takes place mostly in minds and in muscles.

From one vantage point, it is hard  to imagine that there is stillness or silence or peace of any kind on the path they run on, which is so incredibly hard and as well now so hot.  The churning parade of sliced open shoes never slows or stops.  Both mentally and physically it can be metaphorically viewed as a tumultuous raging sea, in which your life boat is simply somehow trying to find passage to that safe and secure shore called the finish line.

Continue reading “July 20: I Always Learned Something”

Most of us like to think of ourselves as being self sufficient.  That no matter what the task in front of us might be, we will never feel any need to turn to others for support or help of any kind.  It really depends of course upon, just how wide the independence streak is, painted up and down your backbone.

By hook or by crook we try somehow on our own, to find a way to get the job done.  In the 3100 mile race the demands are just so great it is also  nearly impossible to find someone who is willing and able to help for all the hours of running that exist over the course of a long hot summer.  Add to that, finding both the elusive chemistry of compatibility, an ever attentive disposition, and more importantly a sense of selflessness that allows you to slip invisibly into the life and needs of the runner.

In a car race it is impossible for them to take place at all, no matter the distance without a pit crew.  In the grand scheme of things of course the Self Transcendence race could not even begin to exist without a very large and enthusiastic umbrella group that helps the unique machinery of the race to seemingly revolve almost invisibly.  On an inner level all who are here and taking part are acutely aware  of the inner support and energy that wells up constantly from within.  If you think you can do this one on your own you will most likely be unpleasantly surprised.

Both Stutisheel and Surasa have experienced support for much of the day.  The little things that snatch steps and seconds away are eliminated when you never have to stray even for a moment from the course.  Dimitry is a part time helper for first time runners Sarvagata and Igor.  He had no experience at this and yet he arrives cheerfully and willingly every morning.  Slips away for part of the day to take care of other chores, and then returns to look after these 2 magnificent rookies from the Ukraine until the very end of their day.

Continue reading “July 19: This Is So Precious”

It is only in a photograph that you can really stop and adequately capture the speeding world around us.  Time never stops, nor life, nor the race nor really anything that is part and parcel of creation.  Just as one footstep continually follows another, thoughts tumble one past another.  All experiences, so powerful and real for an instant are then continually being replaced by hopefully higher ones.  But int that instant the photo was taken you can at least attempt to reveal and comprehend a precious moment of a life in constant movement.

As someone who takes hundreds of pictures each day I am continually surprised at the little personal glimpses of life I can see taking place in the faces of those who are running here.  There are some who are almost always constantly serene.  They somehow cast the appearance of a living breathing tranquility.  One that has to be obviously in stark opposition, to the heroic encounter with suffering that they are surely being forced to willingly bear.

Ashprihanal’s face is a nonstop playground of expressions just as his arms and legs seem to twirl and spin in their own unique unscripted and unrepeatable choreography.  In one instant you might believe you see unbearable agony and in the next he will exhibit such radiant bliss you might not see anything similar unless you gazed up at paintings of holy figures in a place of worship.

He is of course both human and divine and seemingly unstoppable now as he forges his way onwards towards a personal best in the 3100.  The finish line now appears ever so clearly in front of him.  Just 500 miles away and it looks simply as though Sunday will be the day.  Time will not stop but his race on this his 11th year here surely will.  Many photographs will freeze the instant of celebration, and then he will simply run past and continue on with life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading “July 18: We Are Here To Run”