Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

Author Utpal 27 June Something happened yesterday that cannot be explained. On Sunday, 9 out of the 10 runners ran more laps than they had the day before. The only one who didn’t run more laps on Sunday was Surasa ,who ran exactly 110 laps the same as she has run every day for the past week. What make this peculiar event noteworthy is that the average lap numbers didn’t just go up a little, they went up a lot. Averaged out over the 9 runners it works out to be 7 more laps per person than the previous day. Read more

19^th day of the race, 7.52 pm. Today in the afternoon Purna-Samarpan did his 1000 miles. So all 10 runners have four-digit numbers. Today is like yesterday – moderately hot and windy which is a good condition for running. The sun is setting now and very beautiful clouds floating in the sky. I am admiring. And again after long days of intense work you start to perceive beautiful things in a special way, I think, the capacity to appreciate beauty improves. Today Ashprihanal and I acted out a short sketch for Parvati’s group. I asked Ashprihanal: “Ashprihanal, I heard your doctor said that running prolongs life. Is it true?” He answered: “Yeah, it’s true, I already feel 10 years older”. I am on the fifth place now. The first five runners are: Ashprihanal, Igor, Pranjal, Sarvagata. By the way, Sarvagata and Pranjal have the same number of miles. Generally, everything is very good now.  I am sleeping well and I can say I am feeling at home. The kitchen surprised today with its humor. They knaow that I often order additional food with protein. So, in the afternoon Ujjwala made snacks for everybody –they rolled an egg and buckwheat in vegetarian bacon. Ananda-Lahari called this as a protein bomb. The box with these snacks were signed “The Stutisheel”. Our kitchen designed a new dish and took my name for it.

Author: Utpal “I had a really good experience of flowing.” It has been pretty obvious for the past few days that Sarvagata is having an extraordinarily good start to his 3100 mile adventure. Yesterday he ran 130 laps which was the most of any of the other runners. But it is not just the numbers that tell the story, it is also his very presence. He seems to exude a deep sense of calmness and tranquility. It is not without effort of course but it is almost as though the big numbers are not accumulating with struggle but with surrender. That something else is pushing him along and he is just a passenger. It was on Wednesday that his running, he says, became almost effortless. For a time all parts of his being seemed to exist in complete harmony. He felt quite clearly that this experience had come directly from Sri Chinmoy. “You could call it cosmic consciousness, or whatever. I had that experience and nearly burst into tears. It was hard to breathe because it was so delightful.” Read more

Archived – click Post Title to view all. The 17th day of the race. 10.45 pm. Less than half hour left to run for me. Today, let’s say sincerely, is a quite difficult day. Since the very morning everything has been pretty messy: a lot of noise, a crowd of students having their last day at school (we even had to run on the road), and the most unpleasant thing is very a strong humidity (since morning there has been a usual blue fogbank). So, I had no energy in the morning, but nothing doing – you just bite a bullet and do not think about how much time is left to run. Do what you can! I tried to remember good moments and listened to music I like. I still wonder how I managed to run before the first break at 1 pm, then to the second at 6pm. Anyway, it happened and at 8.30 pm the energy came and, moreover, it worked like a switch – one, and you are floating, your legs are light. I am happy that I didn’t fail when it was difficult and as a result I will have enough miles for such a hard day and a good backlog for tomorrow. Igor also asked where to take strength if there is no power, but anyway until this very moment he has done 127 laps(68 miles) and now he is leaving.  So the absence of energy tells differently on the way people run. Sarvagata also flew at his traditional state. Ashprihanal had a…