Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

It’s 16 June, the fourth day of the race. 19.43. A transitional stage at its best. Volodya and I thought that day 3 would be the hardest. As it’s turned out there is day 4 which is even tougher. I couldn’t get a nice sleep. No matter how comfortable my sleeping position throughout the night was, I got muscle pain anyway. So, I had a hard time staying awake on the course. I felt better only close to the evening. I am even having a good run now. Everybody is cruising at a slower pace. Even Ashprihanal is functioning in an energy-saving mode. In spite of her shin splints, Surasa is quite active in her running and walking, although she could do faster. My friends keep sending me jokes, anecdotes and picture funnies. It does cheer me up.

Day 3 Results, miles

Asprihanal Aalto 68 Total 226

Pranjal Milovnik 67 Total 217

Petr Spacil 69 Total 216

Vladimir Balatsky 67 Total 214

Pushkar C Mullauer 63 Total 203

Pavol Saraz 64 Total 200

Stutisheel Lebedyev 66 Total 198

Ananda-Lahari Zuscin 63 Total 197

Surasa Maier 60 Total 189

Dharbhasana Lynn 59 Total 184

Purna-Samarpan Querhammer 55 Total 183

Surasa is running with a cabbage wrap around her ankle to cure her shin splints. She stops at a fence to do some stretching-up. Ashprihanal runs by and comments: – I wouldn’t advise you to do so much stretching – ?? – In this way you can attract rabbits. It would make it worse

Archived – click Post Title to view all. It’s the third day of the race. 9.23 am. It’s a little hotter today. The sky is clear which promises a sunny day. As usual, all the runners started at 6am and by 12pm they will have tried to do their utmost. On the second day at about 6pm I felt that I didn’t have to struggle so much and it was easier to run. There’s less pain and pushing. It felt as if I had passed a certain barrier. I still need another two or three days for my legs to get adjusted. Yesterday when I was leaving for home at 11.30 pm, they were aching. The mind though is absolutely lucid. I felt good after the whole day. I went to bed at 0.30am and was up at 5.10am. I woke up totally energized. Yesterday I made 120 laps which as a little more than 65 miles. I am very happy. Surasa who has slowed down a little bit is having problems with shin splints. When I caught up with her, I asked, “Do you know what to do about that?” She answered, “No idea. I’ve never had shin splints”. I said, “Great. Neither have I”. I recommended her a certain stretching technique which I resort to when feeling discomfort in periosteum. Purna-Samarpan is a birthday boy today. He’s turned 33. I guess it’s a very special thing to have a birthday on the course. We are having two more birthdays soon those of Petya’s and Volodya’s. But we…

It’s the second day of the race. Local time: 5.22 p.m. Two thirds of the day have already passed. I am doing quite OK. Today, everybody has been running not so “crazily”, as they did yesterday. In general, all 11 participants are moving quite steadily, I mean without injuries or slowing-down. Surasa is a very stable runner; I have seen her perhaps only once this morning. It seems we are running at the same speed and that’s why I have not seen her since morning. At 6.30 a.m. construction workers started their machinery and began renovating a sports ground. This noisy and dusty process lasted till 3.30 p.m. The weather indulges us, 25 degrees Celsius, partly cloudy, sunny. The race is going on.