Day 18. I am playing a game here. (June 5, Utpal)
Late this morning Andrey Andreev will complete 1000 miles here at the Self Transcendence race. It is an incredible achievement since prior to this moment the furthest he has ever run before is 627 miles. The people in camp will bring out a box of small brass bells which will be rung vigorously. There will be shouts of appreciation, photos will be taken, but Andrey cannot stop for long. He still has a long long way left to go.
All the runners are under the watch of a fearsome schedule, particularly those who have dropped below the rate they need to finish. For them they have the arduous additional responsibility of gaining back miles in order to reach the goal. Andrey started out needing to do 109 laps a day. Now because of some low mileage days he needs 111 laps which he was able to do yesterday.
When we speak this morning he tells me he feels amazing. When we talked last he mentioned that he was working on staying happy more. I asked how that was working out for him. “Hmmmmm, maybe not completely.”
“I am trying to be happy by sleeping more (jokes). I am keeping my eye on my miles in order to beat the deadline. This doesn’t allow me to be completely happy because so far I am a little behind the deadline.”
“I like everything about the race. I like the place itself.”
“Although I don’t know exactly all the rules of the game, I still like to play the game. I like everything that surrounds this race. I like people and I like to communicate with people during the day and during the evening.”
