Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

Archived – click Post Title to view all. Day 50. 7:49 am. About this time yesterday Pranjal finished the race at 48 days + 02:27:05. He is the most consistent runner of is all. He is the first to show up in the morning and the last to leave at night. He really did his best. It’s his 7th finish in a row! For 3 years now he’s also stuck to a project of running 2 miles every day. We’ll see him today running 2 miles on the course. After the finish, he did another 13 laps to have 5000 km and then left to recuperate. Alakananda saw him climbing the porch chairs. In reality he was crawling up. For us to ascend stairs is an ordeal, as there are no muscles left responsible for lifting feet. I thought that in this manner he had had to climb for many days. There are five of us still running. Surasa is picking up running too. Looks like her calf if healing and she is determined to finish before the cutoff on Thursday. Then the course will be closed for another year. I had a good day yesterday and did 61 miles. I am in good spirits running towards another finish. As we say, a runner is ready to finish when he’s learnt all the lessons. All my crises are over. I am enjoying the pre-finish euphoria. I feel that I am ready to finish. My speed is lower than in the first weeks of the race, so I have to cut my…

Author: Utpal 29 July In most team sports whenever a player is injured or not doing well they can be benched or substituted with someone faster or stronger or simply better suited to face the game conditions. But in individual competition taking a break for long is never an option or a solution. For individual runners who are competing here ultimately they have only themselves. They are alone on this 3100 mile road and whenever and whatever the experience may be comes, it has to be felt, experienced, and endured by them alone. Read more

Day 48. 9:24pm Today’s been a versatile day. We started when it was raining and everybody was wearing yellow rain-protective suits. They called us 6 canaries. Throughout the day it was gloomy and it rained again in the evening. The last blessing before Pranjal’s finish tomorrow morning. Surasa came to the start in the morning. Her calf muscle is swollen. The left calf is 1.5 times bigger than the right one. She limped for some time and was then taken to the Chineese doctor who had treated Suprabha and my knee the previous year. The doctor said that she had a serious muscle inflammation and advised that she rest. We haven’t seen her since then, but they just told us that Surasa was coming to the course later in the day. Our finishers – Ashprihanal, Igor and Sarvagata come to see us on a regular basis. They look very happy.

Author: Utpal 25 July Early this morning Pradeep showed me something wonderful. We had run a few laps together and I was just about to go when he invited me over to his table and he pulled this amazing picture out of his bag. He was really happy and proud to show it to me and I could see why. For it showed the front of the Health Food store in Den Haag in which he is the manager. In his absence his employees, instead of goofing off, have dedicated the entire front window of the shop to him and his exploits here at the 3100 mile race. Read more