Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

Archived – click Post Title to view all. Day , 25 Wednesday, July 7, 2010 It’s 11:20 p.m. At first, a few words about yesterday. Now looking backward at my knee pain, it’s clear that it was getting worse and worse day after day. The first lap in the morning of the 24th day I walked for 19 minutes, although I did it for 15 minutes on my worst day. Several times I had to stop, because my right knee just did not allow me to move… When at about 3 p.m. I decided to take pain killers to somehow move on, on my next lap I felt a great stabbing on the other side of the knee. Absolutely wet I made it to the tent. It was my last 33th lap on the 24th day. The air temperature that day was around 40 degrees Celsius plus a horrible humidity. I was sick several times from the heat. So, all eggs in one basket! Later, Pupantar and Bipin came into the trailer and we took a decision that I had to take a break my knee got better. On the 25th day I did 0 laps. Today Rupantar took me to another chiropractor for procedures. I felt better afterwards. But still I cannot walk without crutches. Tomorrow he is planning to take me to a physical therapist who had treated Suprabha. I hope she will clarify what’s wrong. On the 25th day Asprihanal was also missing from the course. He had a dehydration and inflammation of the nail . At the…

entire post by Utpal is available here When I shook Ray’s hand early this morning it was clear that it unmistakably belonged to a big guy who worked hard. It was about the size of both of my hands put together. He was driving one of the jumbo dump trucks that is currently hauling the last of the huge loads of dirt out of the nearby field. The gate was still locked, so he came by to find out who could possibly be up and working earlier than a guy like him, who made his living getting up early and working hard.

10:14 pm. It’s my fourth walking day. I did run in the morning for a while but after I had taken a pain-killer which lasted only 3 hours. Generally, I resort to pain-killers only in extreme situations… In the afternoon, two chiropractors tended to my knee. They both said that there was nothing seriously wrong with it, just a little swell. Looks like it’s my inner task to transcend the pain threshold and start running again. It’s always like this at the 3,100-mile race: unless you solve an inner problem, you won’t be running. The weather’s been hot – 37-38С. Today I saw Purna-Samarpan and Petya bathing in the fountain on the playground. In the early morning, Asprihanal crossed the half way mark (1,550 miles) and celebrated it with half a glass of water.

It’s the Fourth of July when Americans celebrate their national holiday Independence Day. It’s mostly quiet on and around the course on this day. There are only a few people playing basketball or softball. Individual fireworks are banned, but people will shoot a lot of firecrackers later in the day. Some started rehearsing yesterday .

They were so loud that the automobile alarms went crazy all at once. In the morning, Parvati’s group sang “America the Beautiful” and a few other patriotic songs. Inspired by Ashprihanal we decided to entertain them and give a little performance to celebrate Independence Day. It was a kind of a game. We gave them a list of running styles and they had to guess which style a runner is demonstrating. We had Suprabha’s style (Stutisheel), a drunken monkey style (Ashprihanal), a military style (Pavol), chi-running (Purna Samarpan), a football style (Galya Balatsky), a singing one (Surasa), a soulful one (Ananda-Lahari) and some others. Some were really funny. There’s no holiday without gifts. The temperature is 35-36C. Purna-Samarpan is walking. Petya is struggling with heat. Surasa is dealing with her shin splints (“I felt a sudden stab”). My knee has prevented me from running for three days is a row. Petya commented on the situation that last year we demonstrated that we were good at running, and this year we will be working on our spiritual progress . Ashprihanal is likely to pass the half way point in the race tomorrow morning.

During the heart of the great depression, in 1930, the city of New York built a water tower to supply the needs of its growing suburban population. For 70 years it was kept full, from a pump beside it, that reached deep into the ground beneath Queens to tap a vast aquifer beneath the borough. Rapid urbanization has its pitfalls and by the year 2000 the water below it was no longer considered safe to drink. At that time Queens was then able to tap into the upstate reservoirs, that already supplied drinking water to most of the city. For 10 years this Jamaica landmark has stood empty and worthless to the community that now looked elsewhere for its needs. After 80 years it is coming down today. For the next few days its demolition will create a snarl of traffic on 164th st and in turn have an affect on traffic throughout the neighborhood. This project will have no impact on the runners or the running of the race. Read more

Today marks the first day of summer for several billion inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere.  For most of us, these astronomical calculations are significant markers for many of our life’s plans.  Both the summer and winter solstice often has a major affect upon our strategy and attitude about the coming weeks that lie ahead.  No doubt on some deep and molecular level our bodies also make some small but significant adjustments to the amount, or lack of light, that we do and we do not receive from the sun.   Let us not forget also, how the moon’s orbit subtly pulls upon us as well. In other words, as the universe moves around and about us our physical beings have no choice but to be uncontrollably caught up in the swirl and flow of nature’s rhythms. To the 11 runners at the 3100 mile race the arrival of summer is just one of the many things, that we judge to be important, and yet has no particular significance to them whatsoever.  Ultimately they are not immune to the push and pull of the cosmos, but the only true orbit they control themselves and consider of any real importance, is the continuous motion of their own bodies circling around the loop.  They need to make at least 110 laps on the course before they can even think of slipping back into the warm embrace of sleep. Read More…