Perfection Journey

The beauty of navigation devices or applications is that they, by their very technical nature, can calculate with precision which is the best way to get you to where you want to go.  They make choices sometimes you might not agree with at the time but ultimately later realize that they had grabbed some information from some other remote mysterious electronic source in order to calculate the best solution.

To my knowledge no one has ever gotten lost running the 3100 mile race but I suspect each and every soul who has stepped up to the starting line has longed to reach the finish line in the easiest fastest way possible.  There are unfortunately never any shortcuts other than dialing up your persistence and dedication.  Something that a smartphone can not help you with at all.

Ushika did something yesterday that probably most people didn’t notice.  He ran 71 miles, the most mileage he is done since his very first day at the race which was now 50 days ago.  Will it help him reach the finish line?  Not at all.  When midnight comes tomorrow night he will still be hundreds of miles short, but his inner motivations are not definable.  For there is someplace he is going that is not on any map.

When I meet Ushika this morning he and his helper Max have just performed a short comedy skit for the Enthusiasm Awakeners.  “It is a good start.”

When describing Max’s help, “he is not just good he is essential.”

Max describes his role here as being part of a beautiful event.  He says he made progress on many fronts.  “We did a lot of plays and a lot of jokes and it helped me in a lot of ways to improve.” Meaning being more comfortable at public speaking.

Ushika says there are too many adjectives to describe his experience here this year.  “Surprise, miracle.  In the end, you always run out of words.  It is always difficult to describe.”

“At this stage of the race you go so far out of your mind, that it is difficult to think through answers.  Life becomes very simple, especially the mind.  It is not the usual way to function.  But instead in a very cheerful and simple frame of mind.

Continue reading “Day 51…Never Give Up (August 5)”

Sahishnu’s final weekly wrap up

Poem of the Day

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Ananda-Lahari finish

Continue reading “Ananda-Lahari Finish”

Vasu Interview

Continue reading “Vasu Finish”

A short interview

Continue reading “Nirbhasa Finish”

There are more than a few of us, those who are fans of Harita that is, who spent some portion the past few days worrying about her.  The symptoms she had were the kind of spooky variety where you usually gently suggest that they should just go home and take the day off and get well.

The Self-transcendence race is however not the kind of place that the runners who come here ever simply meekly follow the breadcrumbs back home.  Harita is not that kind of runner or that kind of woman.

There is a resilient toughness built into her along with a keen intellect, and I guess you better at this point add a healthy dose of poise and patience.  Harita’s dad Phillip who just came today said that even as a little girl she was advanced beyond her years.   As of last night she prodded and pushed a queasy body to 59 miles and seems to have found herself back in that final charge to the finish line.

“You never really know probably until the last mile.  I am feeling much better for sure.  I am still on track to finish within the 52 days.  Which is great so I feel very blessed.  I am feeling a lot better.”

During the rough spell she says she wasn’t too worried.  “One part of me was.  A huge part of the experience of this race is to just keep going forward.  When challenges arise you face them and try to figure them out.  Do your best and have faith, that everything will work out.”

“I was a bit sick but it wasn’t different than other challenges at the race.”

“Every day is so big.  I really want to absorb everything at the end of the race.  Right now I am having the experience of today.  I definitely have had a lot of hard times, challenging times, and really beautiful times as well.”

Harita says that she is not one who has high revelatory experiences.  I just feel so grateful for the opportunity to be able to serve God in his own way and really be at the forefront of my own capacity.”

“I think so often in our lives, that we fashion ourselves to be well within our comfort zone.  It is only when you challenge those comfort zones that you find real fulfillment, but some times you can trick yourself into what a real challenge is.  This race is definitely a real challenge.  It brings out a lot of things in me that are challenging but also so extremely rewarding.”

“Some of the nicest moments are running at night, when it is really peaceful, and dark and quiet.  You feel like it is just you and your breath.  The sky and stars.  It is so unusual and yet so profoundly normal feeling at the same time.”

Continue reading “Day 49…Our Thoughts & Our Deeds (August 3)”

Sporting events have a unique way of capturing our imagination with defining moments of excellence if not transcendence.  Since I was quite small the image of Roger Bannister being the first to break the 4 minute barrier in the mile has always been a feat that continues to inspire me even though that mark has long been surpassed by so many others.

The reason I am impressed by that one in particular is that I have run many miles and though I am far from the caliber of Roger Bannister I can identify with 4 laps of the track at top speed.  But how many of us can even come close to fully grasping the magnificent accomplishment of Ashprihanal here today when he finished the race for the 15th time.

Once you take even a modest poke at all his statistics and records a veritable avalanche of data can inundate you.  I am not a very thorough journalist but I suspect there just may be no one else in the world who has come close to achieving what this 48 year old runner from Vihti Finland has accomplished here this morning on top of everything else he has done.

A letter from his counsel general in New York said, “our warmest congratulations.  You have shown us the Finnish strong will and determination, to make it to the finish line.  We are truly proud of you.”

Sahishnu said, “you are extraordinarily talented, kind, and considerate of your fellow runners and your fellow human beings.  He completed the race in 47 days, 1 hour, and 39 minutes.  An average of 65.864 miles a day.  That is the 36th best performance in the history of the race out of 156 performances.  You are still on top of the board of the 43 runners.”

“This is extraordinary.  You grace us with your presence at every race.  All these feats of incredible endurance, it is absolutely amazing.  I know Sri Chinmoy is beaming with joy, enthusiasm, and gratitude for you and for us being allowed to do this thing.  This 3100 is an amazing event.  As you well know and you grace it with your divine presence.  You are an amazing guy.”

Continue reading “Day 48…Our Aspiration-Heart (August 2)”

“I have to say I am so happy that my heart won over my mind.  To come here and run this year, my mind would never have made the choice.  My heart made the choice instead.”

In both 2016 and 2017 Smarana had very challenging experiences at the 3100.  Despite completing the distance 7 years in a row from 2002 to 2008 and taking a long break this great Austrian runner could not reach the finish line 2 years in a row.  It had to be disheartening because in so many ways he is so well equipped physically and had so much experience.  It just didn’t seem to make any sense that he didn’t do it, and also, what made even less sense was to come back to try it once again this year.

Yet as of this morning he is just 300 miles from the goal.  Smarana says, “it feels really good.  But there is still 300 miles to go.  I have a good cushion so it doesn’t pose any pressure on me.  Still, until you cross the finish line you have to be really focused.”

“You never know what comes.  Yesterday in the evening.  I pushed a little bit, and I fell.  All it takes is one bad one and your race is over.  So until the finish line you have to keep your focus, and keep it together.”

“So far it has been an amazing journey.  I have collected a bag full of experiences, that I will be happy to take out when I get home, and relive, and enjoy again.”

Smarana confesses that a lack of confidence was something that he has been working on since day one here.  “It has been working pretty good so far.  The race helped me tremendously to work on it.  You learn so much how to deal with it.  It is really amazing that I could be part of this journey here.”

Smarana looks back at the last 2 races as stepping stones.  In his earlier 7 races he was stronger and more confident.  He felt that there was a strong force from Sri Chinmoy that helped him to accomplish them.  But in the last of that series in 2008 he had some serious issues.  “I kind of burned out.”

Almost from the beginning of the race in 2016, he was thinking, “it is hot I want to go home.  My mind just wanted to escape.  It didn’t want anymore pressure.  I feel these 2 races were still stepping stones to get back into it.  To rid myself of the dramatic experience I had previously in 2008.”

“It looks like I have been through it and I now definitely have a lot of confidence.”

Continue reading “Day 47…Of Paramount Importance (August 1)”

“Its never over until its over.”  Nirbhasa has had on paper at leas a great race.  As of this morning as he starts the day, in this his 3rd race, he is 9 miles ahead of his previous best.   It is a razor thin margin when you are calculating through all the thousands of miles that he has run.  Yet whatever his fate may be in the days ahead, when he goes home tonight the finish line will be less than 200 miles away.

The incredibly hot and humid weather has mostly passed, but its effects still linger in the faces and legs of those most devastated by it.  Nirbhasa was given a blow that he has still not yet fully recovered from.  “I am not entirely sure what happened.”

“During the really big heat wave about 10 days ago, I basically got heat exhaustion.  Especially during hot days I haven’t yet fully recovered.  It still flares up.”

“We had a period of sustained heat, the previous 3 days.  I just have to be very careful, and somehow deal with it.  It was my first time dealing with, particularly that level of heat.   It was 100 degrees in the shade, and the real heat index was something like 105.  20/20 hindsight is always a great thing.  You just deal with the situation you have, here and now.”

The qualities Nirbhasa feel that are most important to doing the race are patience and perseverance.  “You have to sense that the race is your job.  That while you are here, you are inspiring so many people.  That you are doing something beneficial.  You need a sense of dedication to that purpose.”

He says that when it comes to Joy, “you find moments throughout the day whenever you can.”

As for the finish line which is drawing so, so close.  “Yes and no.  If you start thinking too much about it you still have a job here to do.  I still have a few days left to complete.  You have to focus on the task at hand.”

Continue reading “Day 46…A Stronger Heart (July 31)”

“My last interview,” Ashprihanal says as he rounds the corner by the handball court.

I am standing of course just beyond waiting to greet him but what I see, rather than hear, is just how much he is smiling with an innocent glee.  For now with just a little more than 200 miles more to go he surely just has to reach across a few more days and lovingly touch the finish line here for the 15th time.

Ashprihanal says, “the last 200 miles is like all the other 200 miles.  It is not a big change.”  When he had 700 miles left he told Sahishnu that from that distance he could comfortably see himself arriving at the goal.  “You start to see you are getting closer to the end.”

He says it doesn’t get easier at this point and pretty much stays the same.  “But it is not getting harder either.  So that is nice.”

“This is like a pilgrimage so we all try and go together.”  He has not been focusing on the fact that he will be this years race champion.  “I am just trying to run the race.”

“It has always been clear to me that this is an outer race.  Then there is this inner thing.”  Ashprihanal believes as time passes he is experiencing the inner qualities of the race more and more.   “I am trying to feel that the spiritual inner part is more important than the outer part.”

Continue reading “Day 45…An Unprecedented Journey (July 30)”