Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

“I am feeling pretty good.  A little tired.  You know, standard answer after 35 days.” When we greet each other a routine question is usually to ask the other person how they are.  Nirbhasa has spent the last 35 days doing very little else than running around the block here in Jamaica Queens. Yesterday he tied with Kaneenika for the most mileage of the day with a very good 64 miles 117 laps.  Probably there can be no better answer than his , “pretty good.”  Particularly when you take into account that he has so far run 2233 miles and still has 867 more miles to go.

Photo by Alakananda

The conditions on the course yesterday were best described as brutal.  Crowds swarmed around a handball tournament in the corner and the day was hot and muggy.  Welcome to the Self Transcendence 3100 mile race. I start our conversation this morning by telling Nirbhasa about a story I had printed in the blog yesterday about the great Indian Spiritual Master Sri Ramakrishna.  I mentioned how he had given a spiritual experience to a family member who had not strived and worked for it so did not fully comprehend or appreciate what they had received.  I wondered how he felt that, compared to his and the other runners super human efforts to achieve their goals here. Continue

Archived – click Post Title to view all.  There has to be something fundamentally optimistic built into Yolanda’s DNA.  Or it may just be that she has an amazing sense of determination or it just comes down to good old fashioned heart power. 2 days ago she, like several other runners were having some pretty serious stomach and digestive problems.  She was only able to make 21 miles which is just about as close to catastrophe as an entrant can get.  Particularly with how much time is left in the race.  She lost 37 miles, flat out, plain and simple. Yesterday her health rebounded so strongly that she made 68 miles 124 laps and would have been the most mileage of the day except for an extraordinary performance by Ananda-Lahari who did 80 miles 147 laps. When asked if she has been having good and bad adventures she says, “I have been having more good than bad.  I only had one bad one 2 days ago.  Actually it wasn’t really bad.  The bad part was that I got sick. The good part of being sick was that I got 13 hours of sleep.” “This race will test everything.  Your mind, your body, your soul.  It is just amazing.  It is just an adventure now.  I have made it to day 31 and I am excited about it.” “Yesterday was my best day.  I pulled off 68 miles.  Today I am moving a little slow because I have 2 blisters on my left foot.  My right foot is perfect.  One on my left heel…

Archived – click Post Title to view all. Last night after running here every day for 4 weeks and a day Andrey Andreev went home having completed 1600 miles.  A not insignificant number and one which is about 1000 miles further than he has ever run before. With 3 weeks and a day left to continue his task he will run many more miles yet.  Reaching 3100 is unlikely but this fact is one that is irrelevant to Andrey and to the others who are quickly shaping new goals as their fortunes shift and change.   He has spent the last 10 years shaping and molding himself into a distance runner.  He is an eternal optimist, one who seems to find new experiences and new inner and outer achievement with each lap.   And more importantly knows that his personal finish line is not a mark made here on the sidewalk.  But rather one which continues to call to him in his eternal race towards his own self transcendence. When asked how he is doing he says simply, “amazing.” Hoping for a little more I ask him specifically about his body and what it has gone through. “It looks as though I am still learning how to listen to my body better.  I am also learning to love my body.  To be able to listen to it clearly and not be confused by it.” When asked about his mind, I joke that he perhaps left it back in Russia.  “In order to do this race I had no choice but to leave my mind…