Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

Utpal’s post The Hour Has Come is available here

Utpal’s post is available at: Now It Is Summer At Last

Archived – click Post Title to view all. 7.40 pm It’s the first day that life’s been getting better. It looks like the transition is drawing to its close. I’ve been running in a more confident manner, a little faster and, most importantly, with no problems. Almost painless. I am still having problems with night sleep. From previous race experience I know that it takes from two to three weeks to get a sound restful sleep. Nevertheless, I was full of energy this morning. The energy comes into motion. I mean it. Energy does come into motion. Others are OK too. No major injuries and failures. Surasa is still fighting her shin splints. It’s like treating a runny nose: when you treat it, it takes 7 days to get better; when you don’t, it takes a week. Volodya’s got swollen feet, and he’s wearing special knee-length socks to tighten up his gastrocnemius muscles. The body has all kinds of reactions to the transition. His legs look like those of a body-builder. He is being stable, though. Dharbasana is being enthusiastic. We noticed that he was running in regular marathon shoes. One does need a better strategy for the concrete. He won’t listen to our advice. I guess he has to figure it out by himself soon. Our race was on the verge of being closed down. We were attacked by terrorists. The brave American police defended the longest race in the world just brilliantly. The thing is we really saw a suitcase under the tree. As it…

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.

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.

Archived – click Post Title to view all. Day 1 It’s been six and a half hours since the start of the race. So far, so good.  I feel as if I were back home and it feels right.  All worries, anxieties and problems are left behind. We are in for a simple life. Each day is a step towards the goal. With no deflections. With maximum self-giving. The starting ceremony was nice. Many people came. It’s the second or the third time in a row that the Counsel General for Slovakia and his wife have home, as the Slovaks outnumber all other runners here. He is such a nice person. He studied in Moscow for quite a long time and speaks fluent Russian. As I mentioned before, we’ve got two new runners. They are Surasa from Austria and Dharbasana from New Zealand. Surasa is a courageous woman of 51 who is challenging the longest race. Now she looks pretty confident and is running fast. On the first day everybody has a fast run  . I started in a bandana which Sri Chinmoy had given to each runner after his trip to Japan in 2006.  As it turned out, they all had different hieroglyphs. Mine said “God-speed”. The course itself is  more or less quite today which is always the case on Sunday. They are renovating the stadium which resulted in the pavement being narrowed down and a lot of machinery around. I imagine a lot noise and dust on weekdays. As usual, Parvati’s group came to sing songs…