Day 37 at the 3100 Mile Race

By Tejvan Pettinger author bio »
6 October

About the author:

Tejvan organises short-distance running and cycling races for the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in his home city of Oxford. He is also a very good cyclist, having won the National hill climb championships in 2013 and finished 3rd in the National 100 Mile Time Trials in 2014.

Report by Tarit 

Day 37 — Andrea Marcato and Radu Budan tie for the day's highest mileage

  • They both finished with a daily total of 65.8 miles. Andrea passed 2,500 miles in the morning to finish the day on 2,554.4 miles. Radu, who lies in second place, finished on 2,460.1 miles.
  • All the runners continue to be consistent in their own way.
  • Lo Wei Ming clocked up another 63-mile day to finish on 2,359.2 miles.
  • Annabel Hepworth, our leading lady, with 62.5 miles, finished the day on 2,338.9 miles.
  • Vasu, with a daily total of 61.9 miles, took his race total out to 2,278 miles.
  • Nayaja clocked a solid 63 miles to finish on 2,244 miles.
  • Nina, with 44.5 miles for the day, now sits on 1,902.4 miles.
  • Stutisheel's 50.4 miles leaves him on 1,724.1 miles.
  • Ananda-Lahari, with 49.9 miles, has reached 1,716.5 miles.

Enthusiasm and eagerness

We have reached day 37 of the Sri Chinmoy 3,100-Mile Race. After more than five weeks, the enormity of the task still ahead is sometimes hard for the runners to comprehend. Fatigue and tiredness are almost natural companions from the moment they wake. The mind can play games for fleeting moments, and running for another two weeks or more can seem unfathomable.

Suprabha with Sri Chinmoy. Photo Adarini

The race founder, Sri Chinmoy, often sought to reassure runners that the task was indeed possible, offering advice and encouragement on a regular basis. Thirteen-time finisher Suprabha Beckford once put the following question to him.

Is there some spiritual quality that I can invoke during the 3,100-mile race this year, or something new I can do to really please the Supreme? Outwardly, I know my goal is to finish the race and to transcend my best time and so forth, but is there something I can do inwardly to please the Supreme?

Sri Chinmoy: "Now, the question is, what qualities do you need to bring forward from your inner life when you are running? The first one is enthusiasm. Who embodies enthusiasm? A little child. Who can be more enthusiastic than a child? He enters into a garden and runs here and there, appreciating everything that he sees. Then, in addition to enthusiasm, you need eagerness. Again, who has more eagerness than a little child? If he plays with a toy, he is so eager. His whole world is the toy.

"Now, while running 3,100 miles, you have to deal with fatigue — when you are tired, exhausted, dead. As long as you are in the mind, you will always have fatigue, tiredness, weariness and everything. But the moment you enter into your heart, there is no fatigue. What you will find is constant energy.

"If you can feel that you are a five- or six-year-old child, tiredness will not come into your mind. A child does not know what tiredness is; he only knows enthusiasm and eagerness. Never think of 60 miles or 3,100 miles. Never take the distance in that way — never. Only run for the joy of it."

Sri Chinmoy, Run and Smile, Smile and Run, Agni Press, New York, 2000

Radu Passes 2,400 Miles

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The 30th Annual Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race

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