Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

Author: Utpal July 12 In their first 14 days here each of the top 3 runners had, what you could easily call, good starts.  On day 15 each of them would pass beyond the 1,000 mile mark and then from this moment on something inexplicably changed for all of them.  Since then the level of effort and overall intensity has risen to an astonishing new height.  Igor is the man currently holding down the 3rd position but really barely a slight breeze separates one from the other.  Read more

Day 33. 9:50 pm The day has been really nice – not hot, with the high in 28C. In the morning I managed to get out of the walkers club as Ananda-Lahari, Atmavir and Purna-Samarpan continued their yesterday’s walk. I had a good run in the morning and did 2000 miles in 32 days, 2 hours and 20 minute. ,In spite of all my setbacks, it’s 5 hours ahead of my second best 2,000 miles in 2009. We’ll see. Now I am feeling ok. Kaushal said that my current form was stable and I could pick it up a little. He ‘s spent 6 hours on the course and helped all of us tremendously. Purna-Samarpan had swollen legs and veins, now he is running. Ananda-Lahari and Atmavir are also trotting.Everybody is happy. Surasa has crossed a 2,000-mile mark. The race goes on!

Day 32, 9pm. It’s been a tough day for me, as I’ve been mostly walking. I got diarrhea yesterday because the food had been sitting out in the sun. I had a hard time at night too. In the morning after 10 laps I had no strength. I even took a break just after 1.5 hour running and haven’t been able to run since. Looks like I am going to have the least mileage this year compared with my previous races. It’s OK. These things happen. Today we’ve got another 3 walkers – Ananda-Lahari, Atmavir and Purna-Samarpan. This must be the aftereffects of the heat. Today it was moderately hot, even nice, there was a little breeze, but we haven’t been able to run. Later in the day we had a rain with gusts and then there was a double rainbow. So beautiful! The Supreme’s Smile! Everybody was glowing, even the ones having a hard time. Later in the day another surprise was in store for us. Dr.Kaushal has come all the way from Italy. He’s already on the course taking measures and I hope he’ll help me to increase my mileage and survive my old friend, the full moon. I have become 7.6 kg lighter :-)

Every time I try and write a little story about the 3100 mile race I hope to open up the door to some new aspect of the event. On one level it can be seen as being monotonously repetitive and that nothing new rarely happens. Fortunately I have observed that it is in the runners themselves that new lights are constantly being switched on and illuminations are being revealed all the time here. Something which is incredibly significant and personal to each one individually but also something that can move and inspire me as well. Read more

Author: Utpal This morning after I left the race I went for a run nearby in a local park. Quite by accident I happened to pick up a fragment of conversation that 2 runners were having as they passed by me going in the opposite direction. What I heard one of them say was, “If I could kill my enemies, the whole world would have more peace.” For some reason those few words crept into a little corner of my mind and just refused to vacate the premises. Read more