Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

Utpal’s blog from June 28, 2010 The runners have barely even stumbled and staggered through the first lap of the day and already most are sweating.  Not just a moist sheen on the brow kind of perspiration.  Instead visualize the sticky clammy free flow of moisture bursting out from within kind.   The molecular geyser sort that gushes out out onto the surface of one’s body, in order to do the only thing nature has shown it what to do, in order to try and keep us cool. The crazy thing is, that it is not even really very hot, at least not yet anyway. Read more

4:20pm.  I am at the race counting laps. It’s 36C in the shade. At midnight yesterday it was 28C. It’s been an extreme summer. Asprihanal has bounced back and is leading the race again. He is in a fabulous mood, his confidence is back and it couldn’t but tell on his speed. Looks like he is being immune to the heat.The same is true for Pranjal and Galya. The gap between the two is closing. I always find it unbelievable: the runners have covered 2,300 miles and the gap between them is just a couple of miles! Dharbasana has got problems with a ham string and he has to switch into a walking mode. Baladev has been walking the whole day, too. Purna Samarpan is getting close to the mark of 1,884 miles which was his total mileage in 41 days of the race last year. My knee is slowly but steadily getting better. I even can walk in a certain posture. It turned out I had problems not only with ligaments. It’s a bunch of other issues I need to tend to.

1:20 am. Galya  Balatskyy from the Ukraine led the day with 69.14 miles yesterday. For several days in a row he’s stayed at the course until midnight. He’s already in the finishing mode where shifts in top gear. However, he and Purna-Samarpan didn’t show up at the start at 6am and started at 6:04am. Galya is complaining that since my drop-out nobody has been reading him jokes and anecdotes :) Pushkar has just crossed the 2,000 mile split. Dharbasana is expected to do that tomorrow. Asprihanal has finally bouncedback. Moreover, his brother is coming to help him. The race has successfully made it to mid-summer.

Every day for half an hour since 6:40 Parvati’s group Enthusiasm Awakeners is supporting runners with singing. And here at this spot runners sometimes making sketches for girls.

We’ve got quite a rainy day today. Although it refreshed all around, it made the runners drowsy, as the temperature remained unchanged. The good thing is that they were not suffering from the dust attack coming from the construction. Our front-runners Pranjal, Asprihanal and Galya have crossed the 2,000-mile mark. It means the first finishes are only 15-16 days away. Pradan, one of the best doctors working on ultra races, has finally turned up to everybody’s joy. Almost all of them paid him a visit, got fixed and continued their journey in a much better shape. Purna-Samarpan said that Pradan had returned him to life within 10 min. He helped me as well. He said that my knee problems were caused by weakening of muscles round them. He intends to free me from crutches over the 3 days he’s visiting. I wish he had been here a week ago :)

9:07pm. It’s been a hot day, the temperature rising over 30 Celsius. 

 Humidity was low though By the end of the day Asprihanal had caught up with Pranjal, although he was not in his top-notch form. Galya Balatsky has been running confidently. His spirits are high as he is ahead of his last year’s results. If Dharbasana didn’t leave the course before everybody else, he would definitely lead judging be the results of the day. At 9pm he was the first to have covered 96 km. Rupantar made it very clear today that he was adamant about having a 52-day cutout as it used to be at the very beginning. It was broken when Suprabha slowed down and Sri Chinmoy allowed to hold the race until she finished. This year Ananda-Lahari and Baladev are on the verge of not making it before the cutout and they will need to really apply themselves to complete the race. Surasa and Purna Samarpan are likely not to finish in 52 days… However, Rupantar is very determined to re-establish the high standards of the 3,100-mile race.

4:15pm. After visiting the doctor it became clear that my 3,1000-mile race is over. It will take quite a long time to recover. My result this year is 1,386 miles in 24 days of running. The race and the life have once again demonstrated that one can make plans, but it’s God who has the final say… Our task is to do our best and take everything that comes with joy. It will take me quite a long time to integrate the experiences of this year’s race. But I am not crest-fallen – next year I am definitely doing the race. I’ll hanging at the race till its end. So I’ll be keeping you posted on what’s going on at the longest certified race in the world. Pranjal has been leading the way today, with the gap between him and Asprihanal being about 6 miles. It’s a cool day with a nice drizzle. Over the weekend  the runners get a great privilege of forgetting about dust and noise coming from the construction ground. Galya Vladimir Balatsky is the only Ukrainian and the only representative of the CIS. And a very good one for that matter. The first break after a 6am start he took only at 3:30pm having covered 60km. He’s been very consistent. He did lose weight, but he jokes that it’s better for the legs….:)