Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

By day 11 last year Sarah Barnett could see her dream slipping away and there was absolutely nothing she could do to hang onto it. As one of the best ultra distance runners in the world, coming to do the Self Transcendence 3100 mile race was going to be the ultimate challenge for her.  Something that she had wanted to do for several years.  One, as well, that at 37 years of age she was prepared and as experienced as anyone who has ever lined up by the chain link fence near Thomas Edison high school at 6am in the morning has ever been.

Read the rest of the entry here http://perfectionjourney.org/2014/07/26/july-26-that-is-what-the-race-is-about/#more-40720

“It was my second year here and it was my last day and I was just so exhausted.  I knew that I had to finish in 52 days and I was pushing like anything, and it was afternoon.  I was completely dead at that point.  I was passing somewhere here, (points to a light pole) and I realized.  I am dead.  I couldn’t make it.  I was mentally out.  And then I saw a poster on the pole about Sri Chinmoy.” He turned to the poster and said, “I can’t make it.  I am completely tired.”

Read the rest of the entry here: http://perfectionjourney.org/2014/07/23/july-23-why/#more-40412

The rest of the entry read here http://perfectionjourney.org/2014/07/22/july-22-friendship/#more-40290

If this picture were to stand alone by itself I have no idea what the caption would read to accompany it.  For a photographer to see 3 smiling runners coming up the course towards you is a golden opportunity.  But as a fan of the race, there is a significance to this particular moment for me that just a couple of words cannot express.

Read the rest of the entry here: http://perfectionjourney.org/2014/07/21/july-21-champions-all/#more-40165

“I had a lot of fun yesterday.  I wish all my days could be like that.  It wasn’t a struggle at all.  The whole day there was no problem with anything.”

Most days the runners struggle just to make their usual laps.  Pace and push themselves throughout the 18 hours they have on the course to get just a little bit closer to the 3100 miles.  After 35 days it is rare for there to be any surprises other than the kind no runner likes to receive.  The bad kind, injuries, sickness, and fatigue. Read the rest of the entry here: http://perfectionjourney.org/2014/07/20/july-21-something-new-to-achieve-or-become/#more-40043