A very special day for us Sri Chinmoy disciples, because on this date in 2007 our beloved Guru entered into Mahasamadhi (passed away ). We honoured the day at noon with a soulful singing of the Maestro’s songs at the Race site, a walking meditation, Prasad (blessed food) and a delicious Indian Meal (Dhal, Curry and Dessert).

Of course the runners were not asked to stop. They bravely fought through a rainy day and rainy night.

The big amount of visitors did inspire Andrea to run at his best not being much disturbed by his soaking wet feet. He reached 2000 miles shortly after midday and bettering his personal best for 1000 miles by 2 hours. His personal best was the first 1000 miles of this race!

Overall he ranks now 6th place for 2000 miles. At night Andrea was once again speeding up. Closing the day with one ‘squeeze in lap’ in 7 minutes. For a second he hesitated if he should run one more lap at 11:52 pm. Then he decided he will go for it, took of his jacket and hat and off he sprinted to bring home one more lap at this auspicious day. Closing the day with a spectacular 116,8 km defying all the weather obstacles and winning the day with a big lead.

On second place came Nirbhasa with 97 km, which is a little less than usual, but that is very understandable when looking at the weather conditions. And maybe wise not to lose too much energy fighting the rain.

Unfortunately, as Ushika mentioned on another occasion are mostly the important dates for him extremely difficult and so it was. Not only the rain troubled him. He closed the day with 91,8 km, which means that since many the days for the first time he is using a little from his ‘mileage cushion’. While sorting out his things after midnight, Ushika turned on his chair, with the result that he fell on his back. Luckily nothing happened.

Maybe a little similar - Milan and Ananda-Lahari had days that seemed to be difficult, both had to walk the whole day. Ananda-Lahari needed a second trouser layer and gloves, because of the low temperatures at night. He reached 75,1 km at 23:51 pm. Milan reached 62,6 km at 23:14 and was the first driving home.

Shortly before midnight two very young and well-trained police officers drove with their police car through the park and stopped at our camp. They came to know about the 3100 mile Race for the first time and were most enthusiastic and uttered good comments about the runners. 

Priyavadin

From across the Pond:

Andrea Marcato reached 2000 miles today, setting a new national record- 2000miles- 28:07:16:47. This time placed Andrea  6th all-time on the world list. He passed the previous Italian best of Daniel Alimonti-37:00:22:56, set in Feb-Mar 2020 at Athens. Andrea went through 1000 miles, also a NR, in 14:05:20:20 on September 27. Today, he ran his second 1000 miles in 14:01:56:27. Brilliant effort through 29 days.

The others are keeping on and moving forward. 

The thing about this race is that there is always pressure on the individual runner to reach the pertinent lap totals, so that a deficit is not big, or does not come into play. The talented athletes usually do not find the pressure, as long as they keep their body fed and intact, and their mind peaceful or tranquil, so that it does not chatter negative ideas. The happier you are, it seems, the better you will be- especially in this high stakes mileage game. As our great teacher and inspiration, Sri Chinmoy said:

“Athletes derive tremendous benefits from these races. They go beyond their capacities. In order to make oneself happy, one has to go always beyond and beyond and beyond one’s capacities. So here, while running, each runner is getting a very special opportunity to go beyond his or her capacities. Self-transcendence is the only thing a human being needs in order to be truly happy. So these races help the runners tremendously, although outwardly they go through such hardship. Eventually, when the race is over, they feel they have accomplished something most significant. The future of this kind of race is very bright.”

Thanks for following and supporting the race folks.

More later

Sahishnu

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The 27th Annual Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

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