Day 11. Always Better (June 11, Utpal)
“It’s really nice weather so far.” Kaneenika is wearing a vest this morning. It was a cool clear night. Now there is a light breeze, the sky is bright, the air is clear it is an almost perfect day to be running for 18 hours around this sacred half mile block in Queens New York.
“We have had some rain and it has been mostly quite cool. Sometimes the weather affects me. If it is too hot and humid then definitively.” We all of course know that the scourge of oppressive summer heat will be coming soon enough.
This is Kaneenika’s 3rd year in a row of running here and I was curious how she makes up her mind about doing it. “Until I think, the beginning of February, I was almost 100 percent sure that I wasn’t going to do the race. Then, I don’t know what happened. It just happened that I got a really strong feeling that yes, I want to do the race.”
“I think it is my soul that compels me to do it. Otherwise I can’t explain it. Because I was really ready to skip this year. I was more than ready and willing not to do it.”
I suggest that when she was so successful being able to complete the distance last year that she had more confidence and knowledge of how to do the race this time. “That is why we are here. To make it always better. To go deeper. To handle situations better.”
When asked about the fact that there are 4 girls this year. “I think it is quite exciting. Even before the race when I knew there were going to be 4 girls. I was really looking forward to it. It is a big difference.”
