Eight seasoned runners left the startline Sunday morning at precisely 6:00am, answering the call of the 23rd Annual Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race whilst drawing a crowd of nearly 150 people to the confines of the Joe Austin Playground, the perimeters of Thomas A Edison Vocational  Career Technical School, and a placid 84th Avenue in Jamaica, Queens New York. The runners were mostly seasoned veterans of the extreme multi-day experience in running, having traversed the concrete colossus that is this race course (.5488 of a mile/883.2079 meters) nearly 5649 times in each year for over two decades. The group was led by the Finnish eight-time winner Ashprihanal Aalto, the course record holder and World leader all-time for this distance (3100 miles in 40 days+09:06:21). He was followed by defending three-time champ Vasu Duzhiy from Russia, and Slovakian Ananda-Lahari Zuscin, he of five finishes in this difficult race. Mr Aalto ended up running to midnight with 85.06 miles, three laps clear of Mr Vasu’s 83.41 miles. Ananda-Lahari held on with 82.32 miles. The weather was temperamental all day, ranging from hot sun to overcast, to spitting raindrops to bright skies and humid conditions. By day’s end, all had topped 70 miles except for the lone lady Harita Davies, who reached 68 miles before ending her day. Tomorrow is another day; the currency of choice is laps collected, and saved like pennies in a piggy bank. The aspiring runner knows their value; his or her effort demands their full attention, else the Goal is far away. But just one day at a time is the steady approach. Good luck to all runners out there.

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

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