Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

Archived – click Post Title to view all. TODAY I have passed 1000 miles. As Sahishnu likes to write in his news: it’s the 6th time in my running career. 16 days and 12 hours. It is 3 hours faster than last year. I am on the 8th place. Yesterday night Volodya ran his first 1000 miles in his life. He was as happy as a child. Frankly speaking, it’s even difficult to believe that we have already been running for 17 days. It seems that only yesterday we came to New York, only yesterday we went to Manhattan to buy lacking sport things. And, look, 17 days have passed by… Ashprihanal moves forward amazingly fast. He is up for something, that’s for sure. And Grahak as well… We  found out that he did not like the race very much and he wanted to be done with it.  Probably, he plans something, too. He  is covering huge mileage… All our runners are moving very well. I feel quite well. I had some blisters after rains, but my legs are ok. Since early awakening, running, having food while we run, and breaks became my modus vivendi, everything has been accepted as natural… Yeah, it’s a lifestyle now. And a very good style for that matter! To our starting mark I get absolutely fresh, never have I been heavy-eyed. I run right from the starting line. It takes 2-3 hours to warm legs up and then I can work well. Certainly, my well-being changes during the day, but generally it is stable enough. This…

 It’s 8 am of Day 16. I just reached the 900 miles mark. To be honest, these miles are seen only on the board. A few days Ago, Ashrihanal reached 1000 miles. Now he has over 1,100 miles. Grahak reached the 1,000 split yesterday. Pyotr did it today.  All of them had personal bests. So, we are having a very good race. Yesterday was Sunday which means more people around, more noise, more everything… Rugby was played on one field, basketball on the other, people kept coming… I did 65 miles which was rather easy. Surprisingly the day went smoothly. It was tough only from 5pm to 7pm. Volodya said later that he was also having a hard time. It felt as if something had tightened up. The weather forecast for today is 27-30 C. It’s the third consecutive day we have gotten no rain. It’s sunny. A real summer!

Some pictures from Jowan gallery, for more click here

[Show as slideshow]

Archived – click Post Title to view all. Day 14 is coming to a close. It’s 10:09 pm. I have 6,5 laps left. The day has been OK. AT times I felt waves of exhaustion especially towards evening, but somehow in the wave-like way, I ended up running. It was really hard to run after a 6pm break, but I managed to… I am happy that my daily mileage has been over 60 lately. I guess after the race is over, I’ll be marveling at how it is possible to run 100 km a day, to have 5 hours of sleep and to feel happy and absolutely alive. Now it doesn’t seem impossible, it seems very… natural. I realize all too well that it’s not about my physical stamina and running capacities. It’s about the flow and special energy circulating here. I am so happy to be a little receptive to it. Everybody is running surprisingly well today. Even Purna-Samarpan whose feet are getting better. He is a hard nut who doesn’t give up easily. He has completed 4 Ironman Triathlons. It’s no joke to swim for 3,5 km, then to ride a bike for 108 km and to finish with a marathon (42 km). The last time was his personal best – 12,5 hours. He was so exhausted that doctors had to give him sodium chloride injections. Pranab had to be disqualified for medical reasons. There’s nothing doing. Everything happens for a reason. Before the start, he was very nervous. Something must be going on. Volodya Balatsky seems to have been born at the 3,100-mile race: he feels so comfortable here and runs well. Today is the 25th anniversary…

Interview with Utpal  Click the link to play audio file  This time Utpal is being interviewed by Stutisheel! :-)

The 13th day. It’s 3.10 pm.. I did 115 laps yesterday, although I was hoping to do 116. At the last moment I got some troubles with the left shin splint, so I decided not to push. It is still reminding me of itself, but I am ignoring this acquaintance by doing special warm-up exercises, applying ointments and doing visualization. Yesterday was the first hot day with temperatures over 30 C. By evening, fatigue started to accumulate in legs and I figured out that with such endurance challenges it was crucial that I maintain alkaline balance. In the afternoon I felt lactic acid forming. So I started drinking water with coral calcium and it did a lot of good. We had a rain today, now the sky is clear and it is becoming hot. There’s some not very inspiring news, too. Pranab is not allowed to run today. Rupantar, the race director, wants him to discontinue the race due to the worsening condition of his skin. We all really want to stay all together. But we’ll see. The life goes on.