“
Luckily I have done these before, and I’ve gotten through a lot of pain and problems. I knew that if I tried to enjoy the race as much as possible and be cheerful and move forward than I wouldn’t have to worry about the pace. Then eventually my body would pick up.” A couple of days ago when I was at the race, I saw someone coming towards me that I simply couldn’t recognize.
The figure that was moving along was so hobbled over and bent out of shape that I thought I was looking at some crippled old man. I was wrong, it was Arpan. He tells me that a quadricep problem in one leg and a hamstring in another had simply stopped working. His forward momentum looked more like a crawl than a walk. I couldn’t tell who it was until he was practically right in front of me. I was shocked.
In many areas of life when the obstacles appear to be insurmountable it is advisable to stop and simply retreat for safety. In ultra distance races the usual guidelines that we apply to normal human activities simply no longer apply. Logic and common sense are our dear friends most of the time, but when we have them as our constant companions, we can only go so far.
Our relationship with our own negative qualities never ever has an upside and when we put all our trust in our mental faculties the definition of our world becomes constrained and limited.
We are all aware at times of the higher possibilities that we all have within us. Whether because of timidity, or simply plain fear, we sometimes simply fail to even attempt to reach and attain a lofty goal that is clearly beckoning us. In a multi day race there is very little room for hesitation or for for fear. When failure attempts to stand in our way we simply have to find a way to go beyond it.
First thing this afternoon I find Arpan walking along side of Shashanka and they are having a great time together. They are now well into the final day of the race and it is now clear that Arpan did the right thing by simply pushing on through the pain. He tells me that he might just run again soon. “I am just conserving my energy for the last 12 hours.” He has seen his original goal of running 100km a day, now down sized, to hopefully an average of 60.
Shashanka has also seen a readjustment of his own goals. “One was to smile more than last year, and that is not easy especially when you are hurting.” In this regard he has definitely succeeded. He says that despite having to adjust his goals, it was worth going through all the pain, the fatigue, and all the nameless torments that a runner become intimately acquainted with here.
For him running these races is not just a good thing it is a necessity. “It is always beneficial. Because in whatever state you are, you are always making progress. You are having all these experiences. I had 4 days that were very hard. It is the name of the game. It is about much more than running .”
Arpan says, “you are challenged to be happy, when inevitably things are going to be tough physically. When you are hurting and things are not going right, and you learn how to be happy through that. Then it is easier to be happy in real life. It is a real valuable experience whether you do good or not.” He says that despite not getting all the miles he would like, he still deeply appreciates the experiences that he was able to have here. Both vow to train more before they do it again, “You can’t fool your body in this race.”
“Tomorrow at noon we are gone. You know you get happier towards the end, but during the race you have to find happiness no matter what happens, and that is the real challenge. It is really beneficial.”
Click to play interview
[audio:http://perfectionjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/arpan.mp3|titles=arpan]
Multi day races have been with us a long time. There are some records that show it was a sport as early as the late 18th century and certainly it continued on, well into the 20th. There was a time when it was considered a popular spectator sport. It was something every body could identify with, because for just about everybody, walking was the only way you were going to get anywhere. You were probably very lucky to have a horse in the early days, and to have the capacity to cover great distances on foot was practical. It was also probably pretty entertaining for those who couldn’t make it so far.
but you would hardly say there were any spectators. It is a happy place but it is also a busy place. The runners are trying to do their best and the many helpers are trying their very best to make this experience as perfect as possible for them. I have heard stories of multi day races in which there are in fact very few helpers at all, particularly at night. Technology in these races is used as best it can to keep score and track all the data. There isn’t much high tech equipment at the Self Transcendence race. It is very much about people working and sometimes playing together. Achieving goals that aren’t virtual but are real. All happening both outwardly and inwardly, creating true experiences that just might change your life.
The Self Transcendence race is only a click away via the internet. All the results are available every day, hundreds of photographs, and yes blog posts. As I look at those dots, I sometimes like to imagine the faces of those who are staring into computer screens to watch. I have a hope that for all you who take the time to visit via the internet that you remember how wonderful it is to just to stand on a great green field of grass here, blazing with golden flowers and feel the runners pass by. See their brilliant smiles and sometimes, if only briefly, the other side. Expressions that come from a place that exists on the distant shore away from joy.
For much of humanity the only thing that really matters in their lives are the numbers. We can try sometimes and define who we are by what we have, what we know, and yes, by what we do. This simple math can reveal rudimentary aspects of our lives but certainly not the totality of who we really are. The 6 and 10 race is an extraordinary place to find and reveal aspects of your being that perhaps you didn’t even know existed. Peel back the exterior bits of how we generally see ourselves. Then you can confront the tigers lurking within. Maybe as well become better acquainted with the glowing core within each of us and ultimately allow transformation and self transcendence to become the real goal in our lives.
“The biggest challenge I thought, as I looked at the weather forecast is the weather.” We are running together in the pitch darkness of the night. The first tender hours of Sunday have barely begun and for the moment the conditions are still and almost perfect. At this point Dipali has been running for a little more than 36 hours. “It was freezing when we started, and when I came out at 3 am this morning it rained right up until about 2 in the afternoon, and I mean it rained. I think we are doing pretty well,” she says, and laughs lightly.
I actually prefer this time of night, after 9 o’clock, when most of the runners go to bed. And I actually indulge in the quietness. Everybody has kind of gone, and there is just a handful of people. I find it very peaceful and I stay out here to about 1am. I probably won’t be resting for very long. Maybe a couple of hours off the track and then I will be back out again. That is just years of practice.”
Dipali Cunningham now at age 52 is tremendously knowledgeable about distance running and has achieved numerous victories in her races and on occasion, has not only won the women’s division, but been the leader overall as well. With all her success she ultimately gives credit to her late teacher Sri Chinmoy, who she feels taught her the inner lessons that she could apply not just on the road but in her life as well. “The inner courage, the inner determination, and the wisdom.” The race is incredibly difficult and she tries to always focus on the positive. Use the opportunity of running to not only add up the miles but find the route that will as well lead to her own spiritual progress.
“These people inspire me. They are bringing me this newness freshness, that you don’t want to disappear in your own consciousness.” She has after all done 32 multi day events in 20 years. This year, in almost a complete change to her usual schedule, she ran a 24 hour race in Ottawa in the fall. “I was really inspired to try it, and I had a great time. I couldn’t believe how it was so different, and yet I feel that I can improve at it. That next time I can do more.”
It is simply my favorite time to be at the race. Right now, it is either very late at night, or early in the morning, take your pick. The air is absolutely still, and a soothing warmth has ebbed back into the camp. At 2 o’clock in the morning New York is still a very busy place. Cars continue to dash by on the freeway, but there are many fewer at this hour. Planes don’t scream in and out of La Guardia. The constant rumbling stress and urgency of the outer world has receded into the night’s gentle shadows. For now, the world in Flushing Meadow Park is just about the runners, making their methodical way around the course. Chasing after very real dreams that don’t come as easily to those who sleep.
Sometimes you hear their steps before you can actually see them emerging out of the darkness.
Nobody might really notice if you have let a mile slip away here and there from your daily total. But you will know. You will, as soon as the results are posted, recognize a nag and torment of the, ‘if I had not slept so long.’ Some of course at this Self Transcendence race move relentlessly and with a kind of precise efficiency. That is the veterans and the record holders of course. Experience has taught them clearly, when the mind and body simply no longer tell the truth. When aches and fatigue cry with such alarm that they can scarcely be denied. But these are voices that need to be reckoned with, just as you would answer a small tempestuous child. Somewhere within the heart of each runner, they know what they can and must do. Reach beyond the limitations that seem so real. Push further, add another step, and still another, until hopefully you push beyond all the things that hold you back. Emerge on the other side of dreams into the sun bright light of your heart’s reality.
This is my first time in New York, and I am next to a freeway with winds, and rain which made an interesting night, but it was all character building.” It is shortly after noon on Saturday and Martin Fryer has been running in the Self Transcendence race for a little more than 24 hours. Despite the horrendous conditions he is running with shocking ease and fluidity. At times the rain cascades down around us and creates a splashing mess on the road. Martin barely acknowledges the tumult and slaloms skillfully around the puddles. His only nod to the inclementness is to that he simply tugs the strings to his hood tighter and doesn’t miss a step.
He is very serious about how participating in long races has transformed him. “I think one of the big lessons I have learned over the past few years, I think early on I tried to control everything. I think the last few years I have tried to run more organically, and realize you have to let go and surrender. It makes it much more joyful, and I have had better results as well, so that was nice icing on the cake.”
I ask him what has drawn him to come so far from his home in Australia. “Just the name of this race, Self Transcendence, I mean, that is exactly why I am here. I know it is going to be ugly at times, but you need to expand your mind and uplift yourself, and to work through it. It is a great metaphor for your whole life. You are going to have tough times, but if you have the faith, you will come out through the other end of it.”
Despite an impressive resume of Australian and Commonwealth age group records in several distances Martin has never completed a 6 day race. He attempted only one before and had to pull out due to injuries. He has come here with a wide spectrum of goals he hopes he can accomplish. The top ones he describes simply as the, “big hairy audacious goals.” Which translated into real numbers is 900km (485miles). “The bottom goal is to finish, so I have been a lot more careful in day one here. Just sort of looking after myself. Trying to run a bit more easily. I think one of the things I have learned, from the first one I did as well was, I went in with the wrong attitude. I came in with just a purely competitive attitude.”
“I am probably still a rookie in this game.” Maybe it is the very nature of multi day running itself that allows very talented runners like Lars Christoffersen to be able to be so humble. Even the very best can achieve little if any fame in this most challenging of endurance sports, and, if you are looking for a fortune, you will never find it at the end of the long 6 day road.
Lars had done just 2 6 day races prior to coming here. His first was in Sweden just 3 years ago. He tells me, “it was a pretty good race but it was raining 5 out of the 6 days.” I remind him that those kind of conditions pretty much described the race here last year. Currently the forecast is predicting some wet conditions over the next couple of days.
He decided that he would just run, “because that was the easiest way to loose the weight.” With this new training regime he lost 15 kgs. in half a year. He was impressed with how quickly his weight dropped and at that time he ran his first marathon in 3:45. He tells me that his experience in the race was pretty hard, but just the same he thought, “if I can do this maybe I can do more. I heard about a 6 hour race and I think. Let me try that.” That race was in his home town in Denmark. Surprisingly, “I broke the course record the first time with 72km.” With this run, the door opened wide to the world of multi day running.
Most days when I visit the course I generally have no fixed plan of who I am going to speak with or what pictures I need to take. I try and be as spontaneous as possible, and if inspiration calls out, I just hope I can move fast enough to catch up with it. I am never going to have the constant intense experiences like the runners, but I know that even in a short visit something profound and meaningful can happen when you least expect it.
There is no retirement, in the classic sense for Nirbili. For retirees, who just enjoy sitting back in their rocking chairs, she says, “they are missing out on a awful lot. I couldn’t do that.”
In others as well, you sometimes find such incredible determination and energy that their bodies can barely contain it. Yet, despite this great capacity, the physical can only give so much. The body not really capable of harnessing this phenomenal life force.
I was able to run with him today accompanied by a translator. He tells me that he loves the race because it gives him a special experience that he can get in no other way. I wonder why he would pick such a difficult task like running 10 days to achieve this. He laughs and tells me that the goal may be hard to find, but when you at last reach it you see that it was worth all the effort.
Even though he is leading the race at this moment Vladamir is just a few miles behind. I ask him if he feels any pressure from those who are so close behind. He tells me that the God that lives in his heart inspires him to do this, and so presumably he does not listen to the footsteps following so closely behind. Instead he just listens to his own heart.
20 miles into her first marathon she was not certain that she could even finish it. If there was anything certain to Grete Waitz at that moment, on a cold October morning, was that most definitely she would never run a marathon again. Yet she did in fact complete the race that day. The second half of her race would turn out to be faster than her first. She not only completed running her first New York city marathon in 1978, she broke the world record as well by running 2:32:30.