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August 2006 Marathon
In August I packed my bags for another trip to New York to visit Sri Chinmoy for his 75th Birthday. During this time there was a marathon staged for all of the visiting students and members of the public.
Travelling from a southern hemisphere winter to a northern hemisphere heat wave means it takes a long time to adjust to this new found heat. For me, I don’t think I ever adjust and spend my time feeling more lethargic than normal and somewhat forcing myself to go out for a tortuous 2 mile run, trying not to think about the 26 mile run that is fast approaching.
I am a winter baby, give me high winds, rain, even thunderstorms and I love it! Not saying I don’t like the sun… but when it comes to marathons I will take rain and wind over the stifling heat. This of course doesn’t help my upcoming event.
The last two times I have run this event it has been exceedingly hot and I can honestly say those 26 miles have been the most challenging miles I have every run in my life. Not only physically but mentally as well. The only thing that has keep me going is the will of my soul. My body has felt like a ton of bricks, and I spend my entire time trying to figure out ways to stop early with not one knowing. Don’t worry! Each time I completed my 26 miles.
This marathon is a 3 mile loop round a lake, with trees shading the track, in a park in upstate New York. You run eight and three quarter laps around this track. After the half way mark during my first marathon an idea came to mind, that no one knows just how many laps you have done. So from then on in, when someone asked me how many laps I had done, I would casually say, oh around 4 or 5, knowing full well I had only done 4. This all went well until the moment of truth when I could either turn into the shoot one lap early or take to the track one more time for the longest three miles in history.
At that exact moment I glanced at the side line for the first time and saw Sri Chinmoy looking at me. In his single glance I felt his encouragement and also his knowledge that I still had one more lap to go! Which of course I completed in a record PW (personal worst) of around 5.45! Not something many people want to admit but hey, out of the billions of people on earth I still beat the millions and millions who have not even tried!
But back to my 2006 marathon, this time I was prepared for what the weather and my mind and body was going to throw at me. I had secretly prayed for cool weather and for some rain, dreaming of marathon weather in the South Island of NZ with snow capped mountains and chilling southerly wind.
On race day, my prayers had been answered, it was cool and we were to expect some rain. Hallelujah!!! Thank you God for granting me this small request.
Off I went with a happy heart, reminding myself – at long last – that I need to take this as a spiritual experience, offering gratitude to God to give me this opportunity to spend this time overcoming the lethargy of the body and unwillingness of the mind to complete this physically demanding event. To give my heart and soul the opportunity to shine! For anyone who has done a marathon, you will understand that when it gets hard, you hit a wall or two. When the mind that is telling you to stop and your body is resisting every movement. At that time you know there is something else that is inspiring you and encouraging you to just take one more step.
This is the same in our daily life, we are constantly listening to the mind and body, telling us what we can and can’t do. Only on very rare occasions do we really get to hear and listen to the inspiration of our heart and soul.
Sorry! Moving back to the story…
After about maybe half an hour the rain started, light at first, but then like sheets of water bucketing down on you. It was like the heavens opened and rivers of water descended to earth. The sky illumined with lighting and the rumbling of thunder was heard. Sri Chinmoy once said rain is blessings from God. Man did I feel blessed that day! I was in seventh heaven, joyfully running through ponds of water that submerged my shoes, then listening to the sweet sound my shoes made from this saturation. One time the rain was so heavy and strong I actually felt like I was getting a bit of shoulder massage.
After about 4 hours of this the rain stopped and the track and me started to dry out. My goal in this marathon was to stay happy to enjoy the race and to try and think of God and offer gratitude.
Mission accomplished!!!! I ran through the finishers shoot in a time of 5.18, happy, exhilarated and very grateful…. Not to mention ready to sit down!
To all those people who feel that they are not runners and feel walkers would beat them (with my time some walkers do beat me), all I can say is no matter where you come in a race, first middle or last the sense of accomplishment from challenging yourself and pushing the boundaries, being more than you thought you could be is worth it!
In my life I know I am not going to be the best at anything, I am an average person living an average life. But I will do and be all that I can be and I will constantly try and transcend all my imperfections, both in the outer world in my dealing with people and in my inner life of pray and meditation.
First things first. You do not have to know The secret of peace. You just have to know The secret of self-transcendence. Your self-transcendence Will surround your entire being With peace. From: Peace-Blossom-Fragrance, Part 6 - by Sri Chinmoy.
"...Sometimes we are physically tired. Sometimes we are mentally tired. Sometimes we are emotionally tired. Sometimes we are tired without any rhyme or reason. Often our mental lethargy makes us feel that we will not be able to complete the race or, if we complete the race, nothing special is going to happen. There are so many ways that our mind can convince us that it is useless and unnecessary to continue. The mind makes us feel, “I am just killing myself without any specific purpose.”
If mental lethargy or our own unwillingness tortures us, we must not surrender to these wrong forces. Our motto is, “Never give up!” Only after we have given everything that we have and everything that we are, can we give up if it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, we are making the most deplorable mistake. Most of the time there is every possibility that we shall be able to arrive at our destination. And once we arrive at our destination, it is we who will be the happiest and the proudest person.
From: Sri Chinmoy Answers, Part 12 - by Sri Chinmoy.
