Rockland Lake Marathon

I really enjoyed participating in the Self-Transcendence Marathon, organized and put on by Sri Chinmoy and his students on 25 August, 2004 at Rockland Lake State Park in Upstate New York.

I came in practically last, but I still felt like a winner.  In fact, a large crowd had gathered at the finish line to cheer me on and my fellow late finishers.  I've run other marathons, but I never got such a warm reception from a crowd as I did when I finished this race.

A lot of things about this particular race were special.  To start with, Sri Chinmoy offered a few minutes of silent meditation at the early morning start.  Also, I was standing very close to him, so I was able to watch his face and his eyes as he meditated.  He stood on a slightly elevated wooden platform that was covered with a white canvas.  His knees were slightly bent and he folded his arms over his chest, as if he was keeping warm.  I looked around me, and I saw that everyone else was also praying and meditating in their own way, to invoke the Grace of God in this great athletic challenge.

After five minutes of silence, Sri Chinmoy offered the following prayer:

Today's marathon
Is a unique
God-Invocation
God-Revelation
And
God-Manifestation
Journey
In the Physical-Body-World.

I repeated this prayer many times in silence to myself as I progressed towards my goal. 

Somehow, that moment of silence at the beginning of the race permeated the whole day.  I felt a tremendous sense of oneness with other runners and we smiled a lot and offered sincere words of encouragement and praise to each other.

Another thing that was special was just being in nature.  I live in Queens, which is greener and quieter than Manhattan, but is still very noisy and crowded.  I liked running around the lake, and seeing the sun climb over the mountains and I enjoyed watching the ducks and the colorful mallards playing in the water.  Modern life is full of frustration.  Going into nature is a good way to release our frustrations and to enjoy the company of nature's depth and vastness.

Some people may laugh at this, but next time I attempt this marathon, I'm going to bring a bird watching book and also a book on botany.  I mean, if I'm going to take seven and a half hours to finish a race, I may as well learn something about the birds and trees on the course.

At one point in the race, I decided to run.  I had walked twelve miles and then I felt that I should try to run the rest of the race.  I ran for about a half hour and then I felt a terrible pain in my left heel.   I realized that if I ran, I might finish the race faster, but I would definitely injure myself badly and would not be able to run for a long time.  So, I stopped running and continued walking and I finished in pain, but uninjured.  Racing teaches us as much about patience as it does about dynamism and courage.

Almost everything a spiritual Master does is symbolic.  In other words, a Master will use an outer symbol or form to convey profound inner truths.  In this case, Sri Chinmoy wanted to prove, through this marathon, that the body and the soul go together, and that athletic challenges can be every bit as spiritually rewarding as silent meditation.  In that way, Sri Chinmoy is expanding our idea of what spirituality means and of what a spiritual person looks like.

I just want to thank everyone who cheered so enthusiastically for me when I finished.  Those people performed a miracle by making a seven and a half hour marathoner feel like a real winner!

I now have my sights on the Philadelphia marathon, to be held on 21 November.  It is a beautiful, flat, fast and historical course.  I will carry the joy and happiness that I got from running this race into my next marathon attempt.

Check out this link for information about some of the most daring, innovative and inspiring races in the world:  http://www.srichinmoyraces.org/

I can't resist closing this article without sharing by favorite running mantra by Sri Chinmoy:

With happy speed
I run and run,
To cheerfully feed
My human race,
To transform
My human face,
To begin
A new journey's course,
To free
The sunlit source.

Best wishes to our fellow runners and dreamers, all over the world!