The day begins with the course bathed with soft golden light.   The air is sweet, light and cool, in other words it is a perfect day for running long and far.   Shortly after the race starts I will spend time with Push tookar who is running here for his second year.  At one point he will recount what it was like 10 days earlier when America was celebrating its Independence day on July 4th.  He will admit that in the beginning of his trips to the U.S, that he had very little understanding or real appreciation of America, which is so much more different than the tranquil ordered world of his home in Switzerland.

There is only one American running the race and that is Suprabha.  All of the 11 others come from distant places across Europe and also Australia.  Pushkar will tell me of a special moment when he came to feel in his heart a real appreciation for America that had taken a long time to develop.  For these runners who have traveled so far the only glimpse of America that they are able to have or even have time to appreciate is this hard half mile block in Queens.  They do not get to see the purple mountains majesty, the fruited plains, or the amber waves of grain.  For almost two months this is their world, and other than a microscopic commute to and from from the course, they see nothing else of this vast country.

There is a daily flood of cars sweeping to and fro nearby and many come to the nearby fields for sports, and school, and all kinds of other recreation.  None of these runners could be enticed from this block no matter how grand and scenic the vistas they might be offered.  Some individuals might claim that there are countless better locations for the race to take place but still it happens here.   The truth is probably that it could not ever take place in any other location because in some mysterious way this is the home of the 3100 and there can be no other.  Sri Chinmoy created it and placed it here and here it shall remain.

In the early 19th century there was a visitor to America named Alexis de Tocqueville.  He came at a time when there was no motel 6, JFK airport, or really very many visitors of any kind at all.  He was considered a great observer of the young nation and wrote two significant books on the American experience.  He would say of America many deep and insightful things.  “America is great because she is good.”   He also wrote, “Life is to be entered upon with courage.”  If there are more courageous individuals than those who run here I do not know who they might be.

There is a unique and deep inner experience that is to be found here.  The runners all have their roots so far away and yet for a short but significant part of their lives they live it here on four inter-twined American streets. Their hearts may be traversing the inner worlds but their feet are not.  Sri Chinmoy once wrote:

Charles Dickens once wrote in his story, A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way -“

There are moments at the 3100 when if you examine what is taking place here from a purely mental point of view you will never ever comprehend the significance of the events taking place on this little block and in the lives of those who have come here to run.

Yesterday Asprihanal had his worst day in 9 years and perhaps set a new all time low for race mileage when he ran just 14 miles for the day.  He was sick with numerous complaints and had to eventually leave the course and see a Doctor.  Today he has returned, and though weak, he has decided to forge ahead.  All are sympathetic to his situation but know that much bigger forces are at play when it comes to the runners and all the myriad of experiences they must endure.  No matter how close we watch we cannot ever understand.  We can however realize that what takes place here is incredibly significant in the lives of those who have taken it upon themselves to do it.  They endure and push on when most might think it is impossible.  Our thoughts can not go very far.  Only our hearts can ever hope to trace briefly their steps and journey where we have never been before.

Early this morning a runner asked me to take a picture of the moon.  I take pride at trying to see and take in as much as possible when I am here but I had failed to notice it.  When I looked up I was surprised.  It is not often one can enjoy the moon when the sun shines so bright.

There are some great adventure challenges in this world that everyone can appreciate.  There is probably no corner of the globe in which the climbing of Mt.Everest is not still recognized as one of the greatest of human achievements.  It is has been 56 years since it was first climbed and yet the list is long of those who still want to do it. Courtesy of féileacán

In describing why he wanted to climb it George Leigh Mallory said, “If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go.  What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy.  And joy is after all, the end of life.  We do not live to eat and make money.  We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life.  That is what life means and what life is for.”  photo courtesy of 06eng

Mallory of course will attempt to climb Everest on 3 occasions, and on his 3rd attempt in 1924 he will disappear on his final push to reach the summit.  There is no life and death struggle going on for the 12 runners of the 3100 mile race.  They will not make headlines or receive glories to complete the event no matter how many times they run.  They run simply for the inner joy of doing it.  Sri Chinmoy once said of the race,

“Never think of sixty miles or 3,100 miles. Never take the distance in that way—never! Only run for the joy of it. When you run for the joy, even while you are running, sometimes you are thinking of me or of something very divine and sweet. Then by the time you would have normally come to nineteen miles, you will have covered twenty-three miles. You will ask, “How did I run so fast?” It is because your heart was enjoying some divinity when you were thinking of me or thinking of your soul. When the heart starts operating in and through the legs or the body, then the distance will always become much more. Otherwise, you will run five miles and then give up. When the heart runs, you will have already run twenty miles, and then you will say, “How could I have come so far?” The answer is because at that time you were in another world. The divinity of that other world was constantly helping you and supporting you.”

Excerpt from Run And Smile, Smile And Run by Sri Chinmoy.

Continue reading “July 12 How Could I Have Come So Far”

The orbit of my little world took something of a seismic shift in orientation over the past week.  Instead of finding myself perched rapturously on the sidelines of the 3100 mile race I was relocated to quite a different universe altogether.  I had driven just 920km north of this hard little Queens sidewalk to a place in which there were hardly any sidewalks at all.  Family commitments had drawn me away and I confess, that I surrendered to them with little opposition. [image source: Jim Leistman, flikr]

I will not bore you with the delights and the despair of family encounters but I would say this,  I did not have to travel far before the miracle that is the Self-Transcendence race drifted free of my mind almost entirely.  When one is surrounded by nature that is full and lush it is easy to be distracted from that, which so recently had absorbed almost every fibre of my being.  Instead, Goderich Ontario is a tiny Canadian town with all the usual pastoral enchantments that can soothe ones being with their sweetness, simplicity, and charm.  There are no great struggles here, at least none worth noting.  When you are tired you go to bed.  Nobody is in a rush to do anything at all.  In fact life here is just like it is in most places in this wonderful world of ours.

What is missing here of course is the absolute expression of divine transcendence taking place repeatedly on a tiny fragment of a Queens neighborhood.  You could of course stand face to face with the runners as they shuffle past you and still not see it, but once you have glimpsed even an iota of the miracle of the 3100 you can never ever really forget it.

I will try at one point to describe it to my 91 year old Mother.  For her now a great distance is to travel down the long hall of her apartment.  My words at first do not seem to find any purchase, as I try and describe for her what the runners are doing.  I repeat again how many years it has happened.  How many hours they run, how many days they will be here, and how far they have already travelled.  My description seems to be just drifting away out of her reach when suddenly her eyes light up.  “My that is such a long way,”and Mom smiles in recognition.

Continue reading “July 11 Such a Long Way”

Today there is a holiday in America.  It is not quite the proper July 4th celebration, but because the 4th is on a Saturday, the day off has been scheduled for today.  America will have its parades, concerts, and fireworks tomorrow for sure, so today the country gets to sleep in and take it easy.

For the runners a holiday means only that the streets are quieter and there is little, or no roar, rising up from the Grand Central nearby.  More importantly the day is warm, sunny, and dry.  The great thunderstorms that rolled in yesterday and lit up the sky and flooded the course are just an unpleasant memory.  Though one that’s devastation still lingers  in musty shoes piled up trying to dry, and numbers on the board, that were diminished due to hours of slogging through sloppy streets.

On this the eve of America’s independence it somehow seems fitting to find this country is hosting the longest distance race in the world.  It is after all a place in which big, grand, and powerful have been synonymous for much of what this Country has created.  But those words fall inadequately short in describing the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race.  Long yes, but its greatness is beneath and beyond what we the public can see standing on a sidewalk.  There is an inner wonder here that is off the charts when it comes to luminosity and intensity.

Sri Chinmoy whose distance running life took place here once said of this country.

“America is a young nation. It does not want to walk; it wants to run as fast as possible in order to breast the tape first.

I appreciate America for its dynamism. If you are dynamic, you run towards your goal. If you do not know where the goal is, then you may run from this side to that side. But it is better than to remain static. Americans are running. They may not be sure of the goal, but they are constantly on the move. They go to one side and run into a wall and get hurt. Then they go to another side and the goal is not there, so they get another blow. But at least they go.

The best quality in th e spiritual life is not to hesitate once you know your goal. But even if you do not know your goal, it is good to run. God’s Compassion will dawn just because you are running, because you are on the move. Once you feel that your goal is not where you are, that your goal is somewhere ahead of you, then you have to run. And if you run, eventually you are bound to reach your goal.”

Continue reading “July 3 There is a Perfect Atmosphere Here”

When most of us are asked, what our idea of heaven and hell are, our impressions of them can change as quickly as grass shifting in a breeze.  Most, but perhaps not all, would like to see heaven as a place with all beauty and light and perhaps precious little to do.  Hell therefore would then be obligated to be on the other dark extreme of the spectrum.

The truth is that most of us, if we really examined our notions of Heaven and Hell, might just be a little disappointed once we arrived at the proverbial Pearly Gate and found all our wishes granted.  Heaven, where we hoped for peace and tranquility might just be a little boring and the other alternative might start to appear to have some more merit.  Excluding of course brimstone, fire, and dancing demons.

When most of us look at those who run here, we can appreciate and admire their efforts but few would want to be inside those pounding shoes.  If we were obligated to spend two months out here and be forced to do it, then logically it could easily be described as a kind of hell, and why not.  The runners of course have a different perspective.  Not every day are they dinning on ambrosia nor are they forced to eat stinging nettles.  The highs of course far surpass the lows, if not then all would have exited with speed to comforting homes in quiet countries long ago.  And yet they come back as well, again and again.

The best moment may not even be crossing the finish line after weeks and months of struggle.  It may not be to return home and recover and dream of precious moments when they ran through hot days and still nights here.  Instead heaven may exist in those singular moments of the present, when they know with utmost certainty that they are doing the right thing by being here and pushing themselves to their limits and beyond.  That they are listening to the call of their inner pilot who is asking them to go beyond and still further beyond.  This is the elixir that all of us wish to drink.

We do not have to come here and do what they do but we all need to listen within  and act upon the call of our inner voices.  To not be swayed by the siren cries of inertia and doubt.  There is some task in front of us all that we need to do, and we can do it.  And even if we fail, our sincere effort will be its own reward, and mark a moment when our own personal heaven was within our heart’s reach.  Hell is that we just didn’t even try.

Continue reading “July 2 A Mountain That Has To Be Climbed”

This evening in Miami there is going to be a major league baseball game.  The Miami Marlins are going to host the Washington Nationals in Landshark stadium.  It is a  building which can host about 38,000 people.  There is every reason to suspect that there will be a great turnout this evening though there is a chance of thundershowers which could happen as well here in New York.  Schools are out across America right now and kids are looking for events in which to have fun.  In fact, this is the season when a lot of folks, both big and small, are thinking hard and planning at length for the ideal summer vacation.  Looking forward to a chance to do nothing at all.

The distance to Landshark stadium is just over 1000 miles.  Right now, if most of the runners had been heading south instead of around this hard little concrete block in Queens they could be there right now.  Of course no one here is thinking much about entertainment or pleasure of any kind really.  The concept of just doing nothing is a luxury that none can afford, not even for a  casual moment.  Their thoughts may meander but their feet do not.  They may be thinking of baseball and beaches and millions of frivolous things from time to time but mostly they do not.  Their focus is only on the next lap and then the next one after that.  Their minds may wander but never their feet or their hearts.

Few will witness what they will do here this evening.  A handful will come by tonight to hand them treats, sing songs, and wish them well.  Mostly they will share the miles with themselves and a dark sky with its threatening showers.  We all hope of course that it remains dry but it might not.  Our encouragement of them counts for something but their courage, selfless action, and heart felt dedication of their entire beings to Self-Transcendence here is much more powerful than the sum total of a world of  best wishes.  They are challenging the limits of the physical while at the same time embracing the unlimited power of the spirit.  For those of us who watch, it is spectator sport that costs nothing.  Our only admission to this, is our hearts oneness with all those who run.

Continue reading “June 30 I Could Not Ask For Anything Better”