runners – Page 16 – Perfection Journey

Day 48… In God’s Hands (August 3)

“I knew that I was hopefully going to finish, but as Kobi said in his speech yesterday, until the last few days he didn’t really know for sure that he was going to finish. That was really the same for me as well.”

As the race presses into its final days I wanted to give the runners a break and so have asked a race veteran Harita to tell me a little more about her experience here last year.

“Even if you are watching from the outside and say, O, this person is definitely going to finish. But if you are actually running the race how do you really know you are going to finish? Every moment is in God’s hands.”

Harita tells me that late in her race last year she received a message from William, someone whom she had never ever met before. “He said to me in a message, I know exactly how you feel. You will finish, so enjoy every moment, and live in every moment. That is exactly what you have to do.”

Of course that is the ideal way of accepting all our life experiences but I ask Harita if there are any techniques that might help. “For sure gratitude is probably the biggest, and happiness, and even just pretending to be happy. Even if you don’t feel happy. That is a huge trick.”

“Gratitude and happiness give you so much strength. Just try and find things that you can be grateful for.”

“Kobi also mentioned yesterday the importance of realizing all the support and love from the community of people here. You can connect more with the other runners and all the people who are here helping. They are appreciating that you are here running and doing something so special.”

“You look forward so much to finishing. But at the same time, you should try and value every moment of this incredible opportunity.”

Near the end I asked Harita about the experience of those runners who can’t manage to complete the distance. “I have only done the race once, and by God’s grace I managed to finish it. Which I can’t believe now that I am out here. At the same time I have so much admiration for those people who don’t finish.”

She had just finished singing with the Enthusiasm-Awakeners and said that she was observing and admiring all the runners as they went by. In particular she mentioned Smarana ,and admiring all the determination and integrity he was demonstrating. “I thought that was something so inspiring for all humanity.”

The Board at the Start of Day 48…*Totals may not be accurate… The Magic Number is 2,801*

Camp early

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Day 47… Experience Every Moment (August 2)

“I think that in the beginning of the race I tried to do what I do best and that was to win this race. When I came to realize that I could win the race but in doing so I would lose the experience. I decided then that I needed to finish the race. Then I changed my whole strategy.”

“After the first 1000 miles I changed everything. From there on I worked by my book. I did things according to my plan.”

Kobi had mentioned to me on several occasions that he was uncertain he could finish the race. I ask him at what point he had gotten over that. “If you had asked me 4 days ago I would have said, that now I have a 90% chance of finishing.”

“You can’t say that every day exists by itself, leave the moment, and know that you will finish. If I leave the moment so that any moment I can end the race and not finish it. You cannot be in 2 places at the same time.”

“If I come here with a position of killing myself in order to win it. You will see me 2 days ahead of where I am now, but I would finish without powers. I would just finish the race and remember nothing.”

Kobi says he has done many races where he told others that he just wanted to win but in so doing he didn’t have an inner experience and couldn’t remember anything about those races.

“To be here transcending cannot be just about doing something more. It can’t be. If it is just to run 1,000 miles three times more then it is worth nothing. So I thought to myself, I want to do something else. So when I decided to change after I had completed my first 1,000 miles. Which I did in a record time of 13 days I decided I had to live differently. Then came the change.”

Kobi had told me earlier that he felt that his whole experience here was about taking a pilgrimage. He says for now he doesn’t want to analyze or break down what he has learned and felt here by describing it with words.

“I know that I will live with this experience not just for days to come but for years to come. It is an amazing experience.” Kobi says that the usual thing for him would be to break it all done so that he can learn and improve upon himself. “But another part of me says you need to leave it and experience every moment.”

“Do not try and define it. There are a lot of unexplored corners. Slowly, I will let time take place. There is a very big healing process that I need to work through. It is an amazing experience. I believe that for years to come I will be still into it.”

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Day 46… August 1

Day 46

Camp Early

The Board…Magic Number is 2682

Kobi in a playful mood

Rupantar taking down Vasu’s predicted finish

Surasa arrives

Pouring cups

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Vasu’s Finish

Just after 10pm Vasu became the champion of this years Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

He had one last long day of running

The course becomes a busy place most nights

Kobi’s team is just waiting until Thursday morning for his finish

Gradually well wishers started to arrive

The little things still had to be done

Decorations are put up

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Day 45… Game Of The Supreme (July 31)

From the very beginning of the race each morning when Vasu saw me running off to interview a runner he would always ask who it was that day. Inevitably he would make a comment like, “O, good boy.” This morning I thought I should ask another runner instead how they would describe him, as this morning I was interviewing him for the last time.

Smarana told me that Vasu was a perfect child of the Supreme, a perfect instrument, and that he had a vast Oneness-Dreamboat-Shore heart. It was a description upon which I could not improve upon.

We have talked many times over the past 7 summers that he has run the race. In a sometimes confusing and complex world Vasu is sweetness and simplicity incarnate, and I am humbled to be able to call him my brother friend.

My first question to him was done jokingly. Did he have any plans for the day. “I have no plan. All plans have gone.”

The only thing he needs to do he says is to pray and meditate. I need to be happy and I need to keep running to finish the race. (62 miles)

“Everybody who finishes the race is the winner. I think the race is a game of the Supreme, and we just play our roles. It makes no difference if you win or you are second or last. It is just a game that you need to play your own role.”

I ask him what he would do if there was simply no finish line or ultimate distance. Could he simply keep running indefinitely. “I hope I could do it. Sri Chinmoy loved this race, and when we do it I hope we can please the Supreme in his own way. We try to all be in a good consciousness. We try to run as one, as a family.”

“We are grateful to the Supreme and to all those who participate.” Vasu says many people who have followed the race have been inspired to write letters. “We get these letters and sometimes we cry and sometimes we smile. They are able to make us runner faster and longer.”

“This means that this is not my victory. It is a victory for everybody. Because many many people are working in this game. If by running here we are able to inspire others to go to to try new things and go to their limits. To do something in their own life. To be a better citizen of the world.”

The Board at the Start of Day 45…*Note totals may not be accurate..Magic Number is 2,622 *

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Day 44… Such An Opportunity (July 30)

For most of us when we look back at our childhood we are reminded that summer represented back then the ultimate freedom from a long year of school. Days when you could sleep in, go out and play any time you wanted, and perhaps take a family vacation.

It is obvious that this kind of luxury is not available to the runners of the 3100 mile race for even the briefest of moments. Time is simply too precious and the challenge of making the distance too great. At the same time I wanted to tempt Surasa with a silly proposition. Did she ever imagine herself, instead of being in the humid sweat box of New York, pounding out miles on the hardest sidewalk in Queens, rather instead sitting down for a leisurely cup of coffee with cake in Vienna.

“It is a difficult question. Somehow yes and somehow no. Because I know it is such an opportunity to run here.”

Surasa says that each time she comes she somehow forgets just how difficult it is. “I forget that the weather here in New York gets so very hot, and it can rain very heavily. Everything you get here.”

“Now I am thinking more and more what a miracle this race is. We are all so exhausted, but still we all are running from 6am to 12pm. For such a long time, it is really a miracle. So you have to believe in a higher force, because the energy of the body is very limited. Only spiritual energy is unlimited.”

“The whole universe is full of energy, and it is so beautiful, if you think this.” She says there will be time enough for coffee and cake after the race.

She is trying to think now about meeting the finish line. This morning she starts her day with 2588 miles. “When I think, 8 days more, not so much. “But when I think, 500 to 600 more miles then I think it is not nothing.”

“But in this race you never know what happens until the last day. Right now things are getting better and better in my body. You just have to stay positive and looking forward.”

The Board at the start of Day 44…*Note totals may not be accurate… Magic Number is 2,562 *

Camp early

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Day 43… Sometimes I Am In Heaven (July 29)

I did not take this dramatic picture that links to the video of today’s interview with William. To my eye it perfectly represents the incredible ordeal that comes when you have been running 18 hours a day for more than 6 weeks.

At the same time, as William has said repeatedly, at this time of night he is at his best. His body drenched in sweat, fatigue etched across his brow, but inside something beautiful and profound is taking place despite it all.

William lives on one of the most secluded places you could ever imagine. Sanday, is just one of the many islands that spread out from the northern tip of Scotland. It is a place so incredibly different from his current habitat it almost defies comparison.

Asked if it is possible to get lost there William says yes, but of course that was before they improved the signs. “It is lobster shaped and there are quite a few circular routes that you can use to train. It is quite convenient from that point of view.”

“I have always been an early riser so I try and get out about half past 5 and then I like to do my meditation. I always like to say that I have had a good day by 9 o’clock.” William says that he doesn’t do a lot of training. Put into context he says that because he has been training for 26 years and done 106 ultra marathons and 20,000 miles racing, he doesn’t need to run far each day.

I tell William that his wikipedia page has so many accomplishments it is hard to follow. “I have trouble myself. When I get back from racing it takes quite a few weeks to sort it all out. I have 2 or 3 statisticians that help me.”

He says that accumulating records keeps him motivated and in the sport. “I use the records to set a framework for my running. His original goal was 60 records by age 60 and then 165 records by age 65. Unfortunately he was able to get more than he had originally anticipated.

“So then I came up with the last one, Journey to 750. Basically all the records I set here 4 years ago I have been able to beat. I know I have 70.”

I joke with William that the race has been described as everything between heaven and also the direct opposite. “I am in all of them. Sometimes I feel that I am in prison and sometimes I am in heaven. I always say that I like the hours running between 9pm and midnight. “That is when I run my best. That is when I come alive, the race quiets down a bit.”

“I think in reality we drift between all those things, at different times of the day.”

“Now what I am doing is focusing on accomplishing a few more record points. I am not just focusing on the suffering and the prison aspect. At the same time I am dying for home.”

“I was just thinking just now. There are so many things I haven’t done for 2 months. I haven’t earned a penny, as a self employed man. I haven’t handled money or even made a cup of tea. So many things of normal life. It is quite scary.”

“This is all such an unusual experience, in every possible sense. Both athletically, physically, and mentally. It is such an unusual thing to do. There are only a handful people in the whole world that have ever done this.”

“But those are the experiences that you take with you to the grave. But you have to do them to get the benefit that they will always give back to you.”

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Day 42… Constant Transcendence (July 28 )

Sopan starts the day with 2468 miles. With just 642 more miles to go and a buffer of 25 miles his chances look very good to be able to complete the distance. He tells me this morning he feels pretty good, which translate into not having severe blister pain.

“Which means I can start running.” For the first hour of the day he is walking and gradually warming up his very tired muscles. “It is part of the race.”

Telling me about the blisters he seems confidant that they come, heal, and then go. “It is nothing like a disaster.”

Now with just 11 days left he feels the race winding down. “But that is why I try and focus only on today. If I start to think about the next few days then the race for me goes really slow. It makes me impatient. You want to get to the finish line but it is still a long way. In my case it is still over 600 miles.”

“I feel connected to the goal. So I try and follow this link. For me it is almost like connecting to a different world. You become detached from all that you have experienced before. You become connected to a new world a new experience.”

“Every runner experiences the race in a different way. Everyone needs a different experience. And when you are here you get the experience you need to get. You cannot control what experience you get. You can only surrender to it and move forward. You have to except what is happening, keep moving forward, and keep making progress. Both with miles and with inner progress.”

“You have to overcome your own inner limitations, that also create your outer limitations.”

Sopan has had many significant experiences when Sri Chinmoy used to visit the race. “12 years ago when I completed my 2nd race here in 2006. He was giving an interview to a journalist of a local TV station. It was 4 hours before my finish and I was running by and heard Sri Chinmoy saying, we can be truly happy only when we constantly transcend ourselves, both inwardly and outwardly.”

Sopan says that before he left the course he gave him a big smile. Later he would come back for his finish and gave him his spiritual name, Sopan. “I had constant experiences with Sri Chinmoy when he came to the race but this was a special one.”

The Board at the Start of Day 42 …*Note totals may not be accurate, Magic Number is 2,443 *

Early

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Day 41… Enthusiasm-Awakeners Anniversary (July 27 )

*Written by Parvati*

I have always loved to sing but had a really difficult time trying to learn Sri Chinmoy’s songs — which were mostly composed in his mother language, Bengali. In 1999, on the Christmas Trip to Brazil, Sri Chinmoy invited me to form a group to learn some of his songs written in English.

Coincidentally, that evening his students were asking Sri Chinmoy questions and I asked about the quality enthusiasm. Specifically, what should I do about the fact that I did not find it appealing?

Well! Thus began my destiny with being forever tied to this quality. In the first set of songs Sri Chinmoy taught our newly formed group is one which has the lyrics: “Enthusiasm, enthusiasm, God’s Main Food. He begs me to eat, for my good!”.

Sri Chinmoy teaching a new song to Parvati and Paree

Since 1999, our song group’s informal name was either “Parvati’s Group” or the “Enthusiasm Group” — we wore t-shirts that said “Enthusiasm” and the songs that Sri Chinmoy taught us were published as “Enthusiasm Songbooks”.

On 27 July 2007, Sri Chinmoy surprised us by giving us our formal name “ Enthusiasm-Awakeners” — which is the anniversary we are celebrating today. That day, he gave us new t-shirts imprinted with bird drawings and his handwritten “Enthusiasm-Awakeners”.

This is how it came about that we started singing at the 3100 Mile Race. In 2006, the singing group wanted to honor Sri Chinmoy’s 75th birthday by singing the 1,200+ English songs we had learned from him over those past 7 years. We decided to sing 75 songs a day for 19 consecutive days. Since the 3100 Mile Race was going on in our neighborhood we decided we could meet there early each morning and sing. We hoped it would not bother the runners too much and thought they might even be somewhat entertained by us.

Sri Chinmoy, who visited the Race every day, noticed that we were there and was very pleased with our presence there. Towards the end of our project he started to stop his car in front of our group, call Paree and me to the car, and teach us a newly composed English song. Once we learned it, the rest of the group —who were close enough to hear us— would come up and we’d all sing it together for Sri Chinmoy and then for the runners. That year, I believe we learned 23 new songs.

The next year, in 2007, Sri Chinmoy asked me if our group would again go and sing at the 3100 Mile Race. I said, ‘We were not planning to. We had just been doing that to honor your 75th birthday.” His response? “What? 76 is not special?” So later I told the group this and we decided that it was the right thing to do to go sing at the race.

That Race, Sri Chinmoy stopped each morning and taught us a new song in the same manner he had done the previous year. This year, he also handed each of the singers Prasad. We learned 65 new songs this way. It was an amazing summer, which I have since called “the summer of Grace”. We received so much kindness, affection and blessings from Sri Chinmoy that we will be nourished the rest of our lives.

Thus began our commitment to sing at the Race each morning.

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Day 40…Our Spirituality Is Real (July 26)

This morning Vasu passed one of his last great milestones before he reaches his finish line early next week. A handful of people were there ringing small shiny bells and there were enthusiastic shouts and hoorays for him after he completed 2700 miles. He didn’t slow down or pause for a picture. He will only stop when he reaches the finish line.

It will be his 7th straight finish and most likely he will once again be this years champion. When I ask him this morning if he is having a good day he replies with absolute sincerity, “Every day is a good day.”

Vasu says that for him, even though it is so enticingly close, he cannot yet see the finish line but he feels it calling to him. “I try to be happy every day.”

Kobi runs very fast right from the beginning each day. “He runs fast and he inspires me to also run faster. It is good very good.”

Tomorrow the Enthusiasm Awakeners will be celebrating their anniversary. “They are very important to us. In the morning we are a little bit sleepy, we have no energy for running. But when the Enthusiasm Awakeners come and we feel how they feed us inwardly and we become happy. We increase our speed.”

“I am very grateful to Sri Chinmoy for creating this group, and to all the girls who participate. It is very very nice. I am very grateful.”

Vasu says that his focus for this race has been the importance of spirituality and music. “They have given me the energy to run this race. I think they are also very good for our regular lives. Without spirituality we cannot do this race. We cannot run. We cannot be happy.”

“When we are sleepy or our consciousness low we can pray and meditate and listen to music and then become full of energy. Our spirituality is real. It elevates us to another level in our consciousness. It is also very useful in our regular lives.”

The Board at the Start of Day 40 *Note totals may not be accurate…Magic number is 2,324*

Early

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