Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

It’s the 16th day, 8.52 p.m. local time. Today’s weather has been changeable. It was humid, and then the temperature went up probably to 36 degrees Celsius. Strange as it may seem, but I managed to run all along.

And I got the fastest first thousand miles of all 7 races I’ve run. 15 days, 8 hours, 51 minutes. The day has been tough for all the runners difficult. Petya has been walking almost all the day. Purna Samarpan has also been walking since the very morning. I saw Pushkar and Darbashana walking too. In the afternoon after 4 p.m. they sky became cloudy, it rained and the heat slackened. So, now we’ve got quite good conditions for running, sometimes it’s even cool. Today is the day of presents. I was happy with the good time for the thousand miles, then Dipali brought a little DVD-player. She made a compilation of previous races, mainly finishes, when Sri Chinmoy organized short honoring ceremonies for those who completed the race right here in this venue. It’s an absolutely special atmosphere. I ran with this player four laps. Memories of the past races filled my mind. No word could come from my mouth. Later my daughter sent me a congratulations video from Kyivites. It was also very unexpected and unusual. It gave me so much joy! So today is a very happy day!

More photos by Jowan are available here

Archived – click Post Title to view all. Saturday, June 26, 2010 It’s the 14th day, 9 p.m. local time. Today is not very hot, I’d say, it’s moderately hot, and  everyone has been running like a deer. Some are faster, some are  slower, but all run confidently towards their goal. This day is interesting because 25 years ago on this particular day Sri Chinmoy started his career of weightlifting by lifting up a 50 pound dumbbell.

Here in New York they have a great celebration of this event and many Sri Chinmoy’s friends from a weight-lifting world came.  At the tennis court, where he  had often trained, they put his famous bar-bell weighing 3 tones, which he had lifted with his left hand, and then in half a year in 1987 with his right hand. They displayed a lot of other exercise equipment. So, not far from our running camp a short anniversary celebration is going on. In the morning, the legendary Bill Perl  came to visit us.  He has won the Mr. Universe title many times and he was acknowledged as the best body builder of 20th century. He is a legend of body building and fitness. They were very good friends with Sri Chinmoy. Today he and his wife  spent more than hour here on the race with us taking photos and having a little talk. He is about 80 years old and he has such a kind heart and such amazing power. A lot of times he was a…

More photos by Jowan are available here

It’s the 13th day, 8.30 p.m local time. Today’s weather is much better, and there is no humidity. In the afternoon, it was about 27 Celsius. It’s quite cool, the wind is blowing. It’s just perfect after the scorching heat. I’ve had a very good day. I met Ashprihanal only  11 hours after the start. Such things happen when we run at the same speed. We do not see each other all day long. When we were on our way to the race in the morning, he said that he did not expect big results from this race for himself. But you never know what may turn up, no two years are ever the same. Let’s see. Today a big surprise awaited me –  I got a letter from Abichal. He could not participate in  the race two years in a row, but said that he wanted to come back. He is working on this. We surely will run together. How wonderful!!