Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

Day 12, 3100 Mile Race 2015​ from Stutisheel Lebedev on Vimeo.

Archived – click Post Title to view all. “I am good.  A little bit slower this morning. I just go without ever pace I am able to do.  The main thing is to just go forward.” Nirbhasa says this with the same cheerful lightness and enthusiasm that has categorized everything he has said and done for more than 11 days. In that period he has run further in time and longer in distance, than this 35 year old jack of all trades from Ireland has ever done before in his life. He, like all the runners in the 3100 mile race though still have a very very long way yet to go. Last night when he left the course to grab a few hours of sleep he went home on his bicycle with the scoreboard showing 710 miles beside his name.  His previous best of 702 had been accomplished more than a year ago at the 10 day race in Fushing Meadow. Nirbhasa calls pushing beyond his previous marks of 10 days and 702 miles as, “they are nice little milestones along the way.” “The main thing is to stay in the moment.  At this stage it is still quite early.  If you think about what you have left to do.  It is kind of too much.” I mention to Nirbhasa that both he and Kaneenika are venturing into new realms running the 3100 for the first time.  The two of them had run the 10 day race for a few years. “It is a completely different race.  The surface is one thing.  On…

3100 Mile Race Lap, 2015​ from Stutisheel Lebedev on Vimeo.

  more photos here.

Day 11, 3100 Mile Race 2015​ from Stutisheel Lebedev on Vimeo.

Archived – click Post Title to view all. When Kaneenika started running this morning at the 3100 mile race she was taking her first steps into uncharted territory for her. Many times she has run the 10 day race in Flushing Meadow but for her today is the start of day 11.  A new milestone in an exemplary and distinguished career of this 45 year old runner from Bratislava Slovakia. When I approached her to speak this morning I asked if I could run a lap with her.  She laughed, “I have run many laps.” As of this morning she had run around the block 1088 times in the previous 10 days. I first ask a typical and quite possibly a rude question.  Is she happy?  From the vantage point of the sidelines Kaneenika has been radiant every day since she started.  Her face brightened almost always by a gentle clear smile.  I add as well to that question that it has to be hard to be as happy as she appears to be. “It is always like that during these races.” I am curious just how different it must be for her here rather than the one mile loop in Flushing Meadow where she has run for so many Spring races.  “I have been feeling it since day 3……..or maybe from the beginning of the race.  Even though I have had experiences from the shorter races.  This is just so different.” “I never really wanted to do this race before.  Believe it or not.  It just happened last year, that I got…

First five runners surpassed the 667 miles of the first place in 10 day race this year