Start of the 2nd 12 hour race at 8pm

Magdalena

Arpan DeAngelo

Barbara Graf

Board

Bob Oberkher and Emmy Stoker

Cam Chamberlain

Counters

Daniel Wiszniewski

Dietmar Stork

Dylan Maher

Emmy Stocker and Kathryn Stoker

Eric Friedland and Peter Shiue

Francisco Balagtas

Sahishnu

Grzegorz Klepadio

James Gawie

Jason Silva

Jeffry Spera

Jennifer Case

John  McCleary

JP Milot

Kathryn Stoker

Kelly Gilleni

Kim Hooper-Stanley

Lake

Kodanda

Grzegorz and Magdalena

Marc Vengrove

Sahishnu interview

Mario

Mark Dorion

Newton Baker

Palash Bosgang

Peter Shiue

Pradhan

Rob Leder

Robert Spilotras

Ryan Pelletier

Sean Babcock

Steve Bracero

Trishul Cherns

Troy Krum

Upasana Young

Vasudha Deming

Vikram Singh

William Brod

Jun Lin

With a great deal of creativity, time, and effort Sandro Zincarini has condensed this Years 3100 mile race into this great video.

Todor’s Finish

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With 6 days left in the race Todor was in a place no runner wants to be in at the 3100.  He was off the pace by 32 miles and the finish line and his dream were quickly slipping away.

I have talked to Sahishnu and in the past there are runners who have fallen back and managed to struggle miraculously to the finish line.  But he says not so late and with not so many miles.

Pick a sport and picture the miraculous goal, stepping to the plate in the 9th inning with 2 outs, or whatever nearly impossible scenario and that is exactly what Todor pulled off here over the past few days.

“It is a pretty good morning.  Day 52 and I am in the mood to finish.”

Todor suggests that the hole he had been in was created purely by outer circumstances.  A combination of digestion problems and other things.  “It caused me trouble and reduced my speed.  That is why I said to myself that no way is this going to stop me.  I just have to proceed.”

What has happened has happened but he says, “what is in front of me is still the goal.  So I should proceed.”

He says his solution was to change his diet to simpler foods. “The helped me to recover and have more energy.  If you have good legs and good mood but do not have energy then it is not possible.  It is difficult to run.”

Gradually his condition improved and he started to run faster.  “Today I feel good and I hope I will finish.”

“I have had tremendous support from my friends in Bulgaria, and even from many people that I don’t know, from all over the world.”  He even heard from a school teacher in Japan who was teaching the fundamentals of not giving up by using Todor as an example.

“Very interesting and very touching and that support also helped with my recovery.  Just to proceed and not give up.”

“When I finish I hope I will realize all that has happened.”  He feels that he has gone through a whole spectrum of life experiences.

“Now I just want to go over to the corner and do 100 more laps and we will see what will happen tonight.  Keep your fingers crossed.”

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Harita’s Finish

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Smarana finish

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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.

photo by Dipali

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.

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Sahishnu’s final weekly wrap up

Poem of the Day

Enthusiasm Awakeners

Ananda-Lahari finish

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Vasu Interview

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