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New World Record at Sri Chinmoy 48 Hour Race in Canberra
During the Sri Chinmoy 48 Hour Track Festival, in Canberra, 24 – 26 March 2023, Camille Herron an American Ultra-distance runner, set a new women's world record for 48 hours. Herron ran almost continuously during the 48 hours to finish with a cumulative distance of 435.336 km, an impressive 24 km further than the previous record.
Video of Record and interview
Video
It was a remarkable achievement and very inspiring for those who witnessed the event. Sri Chinmoy founded the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in 1977, with the intention to offer support for runners who wished to transcend their previous best effort and discover more about their inner and outer capacities through sport.
"These long distance races remind me of our Eternity’s race. Along Eternity’s Shore we are running, running, running. We are running and running with our birthless and deathless hopes. We are running and running with the ever-transcending Beyond."
– Sri Chinmoy
In this regard, Camille's achievement is a vivid example of the power of self-transcendence and how individual transcendence can collectively inspire the world at large.
"Individual self-transcendence
Collectively inspires
Humanity at large."
Sri Chinmoy
To put her run into context, her times for different parts of the race include:
Marathon – 3:30:18
6 hours – 72.243 km
100 km – 8:49:41
12 hours – 131.807 km
100 miles – 14:41:04
200 km – 20:01:18
24 hours – 239.480 km
Speaking after the race, she said “I just have such a relentless joy when I run…I really thank everybody who got to be here and be part of it; making history for women. … It was an amazing moment; I hope everybody appreciates what I just did: it was ridiculous!”
It was the third furthest distance of any runner, male or female, being just 110 meters short of the mark set by Andril Tkachuk of Ukraine at the Sri Chinmoy 48 Hour race in Vinnitsa, Ukraine in 2021.
After the race, she was awarded a torch bearer award by the Sri Chinmoy Peace Run, for her inspirational athletic exploits. She is presented the award by Susan Marshall the winner of the women's 2022 Sri Chinmoy 3100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race.
The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run recently made a special visit to the small nation of Timor Leste in South East Asia. A team of international runners were graciously received by President José Ramos Horta and a range of people from school children to mayors and local dignitaries.
New Book on Swimming Self-Transcendence
Recently, Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team member Abhejali Bernardová published a new book in Czech entitled "Until the Water Runs Out?" - it tells of her spiritual journey through long-distance swimming. After the book release, she was interviewed in a podcast where she explains in more detail about her swimming, her inspiration of Sri Chinmoy and the use of meditation to help in her personal self-transcendence.
Transcript of Interview with Abhejali
After the book was published Abhejali was interviewed for a podcast, "Tough Girls Podcast" This is a selected transcription of some of the questions.
Could you tell us about yourself?
I am forty-four years old and I am from the Czech Republic, which is a landlocked country. But I love swimming in the ocean. I was the fourth woman to finish the challenge called “Oceans Seven.” And just recently I did an ultra-triathlon that included swimming the English Channel and then biking and running all the way to the Czech Republic. I just love challenges, and I’m so happy to be able to share my adventures with your listeners.
Why is the book titled Until the Water Runs Out?
It is a theme of the book, based on advice from Channel General Freda Streeter, mum of former “Queen of the Channel” Alison Streeter (Sri Chinmoy lifted both of them). Her advice to swimmers is to swim until there is no more water, until you get to the other side. There is no use in stopping and looking around, no point in asking how far to go still—you just have to swim until the water runs out. And we also should live to the fullest until the water of our life runs out.
I would like to know more about what self-transcendence means to you?
It means trying to do more than I did before and have goals that can be maybe a little bit scary and then finding ways to achieve them. One side is the sports side, but also for me, it means being a better person than I was before. I think these sports achievements help me in achieving that because so much that I learn during the swims or the runs is transferable to my day-to-day life. Not only everything goes according to plan and stuff like that. You have to find a way to go around and just keep going until you get there. I remember even for my first English Channel swim: It never happened to me during the training, but after I started swimming—maybe forty-five minutes into the swim—I got seasick. Everything else was going fine, but I just couldn’t eat or drink anything, and I was feeding the fish every twenty minutes or so. But I remember you just have to go and keep going. As long as you give it your all, then you are happy and you are making progress.
Tell me a little more about the meditation? How and why did you get into meditating? You mentioned a name, could you repeat that name?
I started meditating with Sri Chinmoy when I was eighteen. There wasn’t any outside reason for me to start meditating. I had a happy childhood. I was happy, and everything was going well, but somehow maybe—not really consciously—I felt there was something missing in my life. So I saw this poster for a meditation class and I went to see what was going on. I really liked this feeling that I felt in my heart during the meditation exercise that we did that evening. Somehow it made sense for me to continue doing these exercises and trying to find something deeper within me. I guess it’s also why I started doing long-distance swimming and running. Just to know myself better, to get more outside of my comfort zone and kind of dig deeper to see what is there. I think we are just really limiting ourselves with what our mind tells us we can do or we can’t do. With the meditation, I’m calming my mind and opening my heart and then I can see that there is so much to explore and so much more to do. So, it somehow made sense to put all of this together.
Tell me about Oceans Seven? What is the Oceans Seven challenge?
The Oceans Seven challenge involves seven swims around the globe that are difficult in some way or another. One of them is the English Channel. Then the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, which is even colder than the English Channel. I never really wanted to swim this one. Then there are some warm-water swims like Hawaii’s Moloka’i Channel, which is really long. It is more than 2k, which is a marathon distance. Then there is Cook Strait in New Zealand, Tsugaru Strait in Japan, Strait of Gibraltar which is from Europe to Africa which I really loved. And there is Catalina Channel, which is from Catalina Island to Los Angeles. So, those are the seven swims and there are tides, there are waves, there are swells, there are some marine animals that are kind and not so kind. So there are different challenges in the swims.
Tell me about some of your magical moments during the ultra-triathlon.
When I was planning the event, I wanted to show that we are one world-family. That even though England is 1,000 kilometres away, we are still very much alike. And then during the swim and the bike I was just so grateful to have people around me that were fully there for me. The teams were so great, they worked so well together. I was just so proud of them. I liked the sunrise during the event, definitely my favourite part of each day when I do these ultra distances, the new promise and looking forward to what each day will bring.
Do you have a mantra or a motto that you apply to your challenges and events?
I have one that I really like and it’s “I can do it; I have already done it.” It’s actually what Sri Chinmoy advised people when they were swimming the English Channel, to really use the imagination even while training, to tell yourself “I can do it.” “Imagine that you are swimming to the French shore and I am there. And just visualise it and then make it a reality.” That’s my favourite. And I use mantras and singing when things get tough. There is a song that Sri Chinmoy composed, “I am swimming the English Channel today.” So I was singing that song quite a lot during the swim.
Would you mind sharing a little more about what your main goal is in life?
My main goal I would describe as really knowing myself, what I am, why I am here, what I am supposed to do and just being me. Being the best version of me and getting better every day, becoming a better person.
You said that “I can do more” and you were wanting to challenge yourself, to push yourself, tell me more about swimming the English Channel. Because you heard about it through your sports club, what happened then? Did initially you not sort of decide to take it up straightaway? Did it come back a few years later?
So the motto of our team is “Self-Transcendence” so in a way I was looking for things where I would transcend myself and my friend was inspired to swim the English Channel and since I had the connection with swimming she asked me to be on the boat as her support team. So, of course, I said yes but then that solo swim changed into a relay and I already had holidays booked so I said, “Okay, I will be part of that relay.” But then I remembered because it was kind of a last minute change to a relay we came to Dover to train and the water as you know is very cold in the English Channel and I was really, really skinny and a runner and it felt really cold. And we waited maybe for three weeks for good weather and I remember telling my friends that I never really wanted to do the Channel because it’s just so cold and to remind me if ever I have the idea to swim it that it is really cold but two years after that I was there standing on the British shore ready to swim solo. So I guess the philosophy of Self-Transcendence was so much in me that I just had to do it.
How long did it take to do the seven swims?
I did the English Channel which was the first of the seven swims in 2011 and I finished the Cook Strait in 2018. So basically, eight years.
Eight years, wow. So almost like one swim every year?
Yes. 2011 then 2012 I actually swam around Manhattan. I didn’t really plan to do the Ocean Seven so I just liked the idea of swimming around Manhattan because New York is where I did my six-day race and I did a marathon there so I liked the idea of seeing Manhattan from the water. The next year I did Gibraltar Strait which is the shortest of the swims. Then I never really wanted to do Catalina Channel because there are sharks there. When I was a teenager I saw the movie Jaws then, of course, you still have this vivid image of the shark trying to eat you. So I had to get used to the fact that if they are home and I’m there on a visit and they are not there to eat me but they just live there. Kind of things were coming my way. I had a friend who lived by Catalina Channel, you can use my kayak. There were different things kind of pointing for me to do the Catalina swim. It was really beautiful, it was just like this magical swim where the conditions were really nice. There was the bioluminesence in the water. There were dolphins swimming with us, it was like this beautiful, magical experience and I knew I had to do some more swims. It was kind of evolving and I really was resisting to do. I heard about Ocean Seven but I knew about the cold North Channel and I was totally resisting, I can’t do that it’s just too cold.
How did you change your mindset around that, especially with the North Channel and to change your mindset to overcome the doubt, the worry, the fear or just the fact that do I really want to do this? Do I want to put my body and my mind? I’m getting cold just thinking about it. How did you change that perspective?
It was changed for me, it probably doesn’t make sense but what happened after Catalina I was really thinking what swim do I want to do next? And I knew about this swim in South Africa for quite some time that I wanted to do it to swim from Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was in prison for quite some time to Cape Town. It’s only seven and a half kilometres so it’s not a long swim but it is very cold. So I thought now is probably a good time because I’m used to the cold water to do this swim. When we got to South Africa the water was extremely cold. None of the local swimmers were swimming when we were there. We knew the water was okay, we could swim. And even though I knew it was really cold it felt weird not to give it a chance, to give it a try. And then the water was like nine or ten Celsius. Which is colder than the North Channel. Even though I was getting hypothermic towards the end we were almost there so it was okay and it was much colder than it usually is. So I thought maybe I just shouldn’t be worrying too much about the North Channel. And I love swimming so I somehow thought okay, let’s do it.
Sri Chinmoy Singers offer songs in Honour of Martin Luther King
Recently Sri Chinmoy's students sang a special performance of Martin Luther King's words set to music by Sri Chinmoy. The occasion was the birth anniversary of Martin Luther King on 15 January. In 1977, Sri Chinmoy and Coretta Scott King took part in a programme to honour Martin Luther King's Memory at the United Nations, where these songs were first sung.
Sri Chinmoy Centre choir, New York.
1977 Ceremony for Martin Luther King Jr.
On 29th November 1977, Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditations at the United Nations sponsored a programme to honour the memory and life of Martin Luther King Jr. at the United Nations. Mrs King was the guest of honour and keynote speaker for the 10th anniversary of her husband's assassination. Sri Chinmoy opened the programme with a short meditation.
At the event, Sri Chinmoy also spoke about Martin Luther King saying:
"Martin Luther King, beloved king of the heart-world, unhorizoned vision of the mind-world, hero-warrior of the vital-world, life sacrificer of the body-world, to you my aspiration dedication-life bows.
The Saviour-Son gave humanity the lesson of compassion and forgiveness. India’s Mahatma Gandhi, with his message of non-violence, proved to be an excellent student. In America, the Absolute Supreme chose you to be His unparalleled student, to love divinely the soul of His creation and to serve unreservedly the body of His creation.
We, the members of the Meditation Group at the UN, bow to you lovingly, devotedly and soulfully."
- Sri Chinmoy, [Excerpt from: "Martin Luther King: Humanity's Aspiration-Hero". Printed in a bulletin of the United Nations Meditation Group, 29 November 1977] Sri Chinmoy said of Mrs. King "In you I see the living presence of our beloved brother."
In a time of worldwide division, Martin Luther King's words “I Have a Dream” set to music becomes a song of hope, unity and promise.
Inspiration from the 2022 edition of the 3100 Mile Race
This year's Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race finished recently with 11 runners completing the distance or running as many miles as they could manage in 52 days. The race was founded by spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy, in 1997, as a vehicle to allow people to test their limits of self-transcendence. It is a challenging race which gives runners to dig deep into their physical, mental and spiritual reserves. This year's race around a block in Jamaica, Queens, New York, featured several days of heavy rain - one of the numerous outer challenges the runners had to face.
Susan Marshall finishing the race
The women's champion was Susan Marshall from Auckland, New Zealand, she was inspired to take up distance running after observing how other runners were changed by the experience. As she relates.
“The people I saw who had achieved these races, they had a special quality about them which I felt quite drawn to,”
Susan Marshall also reported how the race's founder, Sri Chinmoy gave her inspiration to take on this unique challenge.
“He [Sri Chinmoy] believed we all had so many dreams inside of ourselves, but we often don’t have the courage or conviction or whatever to actually go out and fulfil them and these are the things which are going to make our world and our own lives something which is very meaningful to us,” (Kiwi Runner Susan Marshall's 5,000km race of self-discovery)
Andrea Marcato from Italy. This year's winner.
The winner for the third consecutive year was Andrea Marcato, in a time of 43 days, three hours 20 mins and 27 seconds. Throughout the race Andrea exuded determination, focus and concentration. After the race he mentioned how as well as his great physical fitness, he relies on the power of prayer and meditation to go deeper and persevere in the face of the physical challenges.
The race is promoted by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and requires an international team of volunteers to help count, cook and provide for the runners.
Video of the race
Video
In this highlights video, many of the runners commented on the significance of the race and how it can help cultivate goodwill and oneness between people of different countries. Something picked up on by the media.
Stories from the world's longest certified road race
Two of the runners: Huang Lan-Yang from Taiwan and Vasu Duszhiy from Russia
The Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race has been in progress since September 4, and is now nearing its half-way point. Runners have 52 days until October 25 to complete the distance, which means that they have to run 59.6 miles (95.9 km) on average every day. The runners start at 6am every morning and run laps around the same city block in Queens, New York until 12 midnight.
You can keep in touch with the runners' progress on the official race website:
This year 11 runners started. Andrea Marcato, a 2-time winner of the race, is currently leading ahead of the race record holder and 17-time finisher Asprihanal Aaalto from Sweden. Susan Marshall from New Zealand is currently leading the women's race and has just crossed the 1500 mile mark.
Video
Susan Marshall talks about her experiences 20 days into the race
The race often attracts friends from the ultra-running community. Recently, Gary Corbitt visited the runners to offer encouragment to the runners
Video
Gary Corbitt, son of Ted Corbitt visits race
The race was founded in 1997 by spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy, who saw these races as a unique opportunity for self-discovery and transcending one's own boundaries.
Running offers us the message of transcendence. In our running, every day we are aiming at a new goal. It is like a child who studies in school. First he studies in kindergarten, then he goes to primary school, then to high school, college and university. After getting his university degree, still he is not satisfied. He wants to achieve more wisdom, more knowledge. Similarly, every day we are running towards a goal, but when we reach that goal, we want to go still farther. Either we want to improve our timing or increase our distance. There is no end. Running means continual transcendence, and that is also the message of our inner life.
Sri Chinmoy
The race gets a lot of visitors and well-wishers. During this year's race we had a very nice visit by former President Xanana Gusmāo of Timor-Leste, who led his country to independence over 30 years ago.
President Gusmão (fourth from left, in yellow cap) in front of the race scoreboard.
Sanjaya Spettigue from Ipswich, England has been studying meditation with Sri Chinmoy since 1976. Over the years, he has developed an encyclopediac knowledge of the Mahabharata, India's great epic story which is longer than the Illiad and the Oddyssey combined. During our meditation gatherings, Sri Chinmoy would often ask him to regale us with stories from this epic, and in doing so he would bring forward such a wealth of knowledge, it seemed as if he was telling us events that he had seen happen before his very eyes.
Sanjaya describes the beginning of the Battle of Kurukshetra
Now in his eighties, Sanjaya is still entertaining us and illumining us with these immortal stories. For the first time, 39 of these stories told over the years have been brought together for the public to enjoy on Radio Sri Chinmoy.
The Mahabharata, which means 'Great India' in Sanskrit, tells the story of the struggle which culminates in the 18-day battle of Kurukshetra and the destruction of most of the princely families of India. Its breadth of storytelling is such that it is said that 'What is found in the Mahabharata may be found somewhere else, but what is not found in the Mahabharata may not be found anywhere else.' The Mahabharata also contains the Bhagavad-Gita, or Song Celestial, the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna that is a foundational text of Indian spirituality.
Much of the tragic quality of the Mahabharata comes from the fact that the two sides of the struggle are closely related. In this story that Sri Chinmoy related which takes place during the battle of Kurukshetra, Vishma is the grandfather of Arjuna. Krishna had promised not to fight in the battle, but instead be Arjuna's charioteer.
When Arjuna saw Vishma advancing towards him on the battlefield, he said to Krishna, “We lost our father when we were quite young, and Vishma became our father. Such affection, such love he had for us! Is there anything that we would not have done for him? He is so dear to me. I cannot fight him.”
Krishna told Arjuna, “He is already dead in the inner world. You have to fight him!” Still Arjuna could not bring himself to fight with his grandsire; so Krishna came out of the chariot with his discus. When Krishna decided to fight, he said, “My love for my Arjuna is infinitely more important to me than my so-called promise. People will say that I am not a man of my word. I do not care. I want to prove that my love for my Arjuna is infinitely more important than preserving honour in the eyes of the world. I am prepared to go against the ordinary light of morality in order to win the victory for Arjuna.”
When Vishma saw that it was Krishna himself who had come to fight him, he came running to be killed. He said, “My Lord, my Lord, I know who You are! If You kill me, I will be the happiest person. On the one hand, I am so sad that You are breaking Your Promise. But again, I am so glad that I will die by Your Hand. Kill me, kill me! I am dying to die by Your Hand!”
Then Arjuna said, “No, no, I am ready to fight!” He pulled Krishna back into the chariot and fought Vishma with utmost determination. At last, Vishma lay dying, and Arjuna brought water to his grandsire. When Arjuna saw that Vishma was shedding tears, he said to Krishna, “Our grandfather did not do anything wrong. He was so good, so divine. Why does he have to suffer? Why are there tears in his eyes?”
Krishna said to Arjuna, “Why are you asking me? Ask him! He will tell you.” So Arjuna asked his grandfather, “Please tell me why you are crying, Grandfather. In our kingdom, there is nobody as divine as you. It was you yourself who told us how to kill you. Who else on earth would have been so noble? But now that your death is fast approaching, why are you crying? Are you afraid of death?”
Vishma replied, “You fool! I am weeping not because I am afraid of death, but because the Pandavas have suffered so much. Krishna, the Lord of the Universe, was all the time with you and for you. So how is it that you have suffered so much? I do not understand the Lord’s Game. That is why I am shedding tears.”
Krishna answered him, “This is my creation. You will never be able to understand it. My mystery is unfathomable.”
The Mahabharata is sweeter than the sweetest and, at the same time, deeper than the deepest. On the mental level, we cannot justify many of the things that Krishna did. But, again, his divinity is all the justification that is needed.
Sri Chinmoy
Sanjaya has been active in the interfaith movement in Ipswich for decades. For many years, he also narrated a short segment on BBC radio called Thought of the Day.
Tributes pour in for President Mikhail Gorbachev
On 30 August 2022, President Mikhail Gorbachev, (1990 Nobel Peace Laureate) passed away leading to an outpouring of tributes and gratitude for his life, work and common humanity. Members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre have begun holding special meditations and events to mark this most special personality and his towering contributions to the world. (photos to come)
Throughout his life, Sri Chinmoy frequently expressed his admiration and love for President Gorbachev saying.
"Among the world figures of our time, there are many whom I admire, but first and foremost is President Gorbachev……. He was the main instrument to liberate Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and so many other countries in the Eastern Bloc."
President Gorbachev and Sri Chinmoy, who were both born in 1931, first met on 29 May 1990, in Ottawa, Canada. Sri Chinmoy sincerely remarked about President Gorbachev.
"You are the master-key of the global heart. You have liberated the world from bondage-night, and you have brought to the fore the inner freedom which we need so desperately. Before, people were in darkness, and now you have brought light to them."
At this first meeting, President Gorbachev remarked to Sri Chinmoy. "I have heard so much about you and your work. We must work together for world peace." This auspicious first meeting led to several others over the next two decades as the two become good friends and kindred spirits working in their own way towards a more peaceful world. In 1990, at a time, when the President was beset by challenges, Sri Chinmoy published a book of tributes in his honour “Gorbachev: the Master-Key of the Universal Heart”, Agni Press, New York, which began with the tribute.
You are the most beloved
Of the chosen few
To be garlanded
By Father-God in Heaven
And Mother-God on earth
For your supremely unparalleled contributions
Towards changing the face and fate
Of the suffering world-community.
In October 2006, President Gorbachev met with Sri Chinmoy at Aspiration-Ground, New York.
To me, not because of his
Himalayan greatness
But because of his Olympian goodness,
He has become the world cynosure.
No man of integrity
Will dare to devalue him —
His world-improvement-contributions.
The test of this earth-planet
Is to realise
Who truly President Gorbachev is.
President Gorbachev and Sri Chinmoy with Peace Torch, 1994 during a ceremony where President Gorbachev was awarded the U Thant Peace Award.
Not one but many
Most significant lessons
All human beings
Are learning from you.
To name only a few:
Never too late
To do the right thing;
Never too late
To be the right person;
Never too late
For the transformation of the mind,
For the satisfaction of the heart
And for the perfection of human life.
Believe, take a step and proceed: a 6-day race experience
In April 2022, Susan Marshall ran the Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence 6 day race. At the end of the fifth day, she had sat in second place, 16 miles behind the lead runner. But, on the last day of racing, she managed to complete an astonishing 84 miles, to win the race with a total of 442 miles. This is Susan’s report of her experience.
Susan Marshall at the 2022 6 Day race
The first time I did well in a multi-day race, I felt that it was a gift from God. My expectations of what I thought I might achieve were shattered, well beyond my training and experience. It came out of the blue and presented itself to me, something I had never wanted, asked for, or needed – a hand shunting me in this direction, an illumined marker on the picture of my being, a little x on the map of what might lead me towards peace and happiness. From here, I began to equate my success in running with my worthiness as a human being. If I was doing well it meant some higher force was supporting me, validating me. This wasn’t a terrible litmus test of life, after all, if you’re doing well in one area, it tends to flow into other areas as well, but assuming a perpetual correlation leads to expectation, and in my case, despair when my body bucked under pressure.
This year's race was a little different. The night before it began, I went to meditate at Aspiration-Ground, our meditation garden in New York where we used to meditate with Sri Chinmoy, and stood in front of the portrait of Sri Chinmoy that stands at the entrance. Normally meditation takes a concentrated effort from me, but occasionally I get a reminder that there is something beyond me, the thing I am trying to reach, that really powers my meditation. In that moment I felt God’s Immortal Peace. It was above all human deeds, all human acceptance of light. Whether or not the Earth was receptive to it was inconsequential. The mind that believes in crime and punishment, karma and retribution demand a slower process than that which came from this source. This mind looks for repentance before forgiveness, worthiness before favour, yet somehow hopes for a miracle. It longs for something that will grant it what it can’t reach, restore what it has lost and broken. The Grace simply was, and it was waiting there for anyone with the aspiration to reach out and touch it. And I felt that all of the runners at this race, who dared to come after the travel bans and social drought of 2021, however they ran, were a part of something divine, illumining, and special – a new hope.
For the first time, I wasn’t nervous before the race started. I had been all-consumingly occupied right up until three days before the race started, and as such the hopes, doubts and possibilities hadn’t gathered enough traction to sink their claws in. The race started and we simply went.
Day One is always fast. You can move at a good speed, the tendons aren't burning in the body's panic to clamp down and hold you from moving forward. So no matter how much it rained, it was nothing to whinge about. The one-mile loop with its dips and troughs formed at least three serious puddles, in this case, known as lakes. Most people went around the outside but I preferred to crash through. Once the major puddles had established themselves as permanent features, enough to be assigned names, someone would come and lay down planks. The runners would clatter over, one or two at a time, rebounding each other's body weight on the downward stride.
One of the mental brakes any runner puts on is fear of injury – running their body into strain in the first few days. The impending possibility of achilles trouble, the fear of the unknown, cautioned my approach, suggesting I dare not even knock at the gates lest they not open. A cautious approach is sometimes wise but for what I wanted, it was not enough. It was do or die. I knew troubles would come, but instead of staying on meerkat monitor – jumping at every sign of tension and predicting doom – I accepted troubles as part of my lot, and I let go of my resistance to them.
The first day I ran 100 miles. By noon, (start of day two) I had issues. Usually, I get two clear days before they rear their obstinate heads. Some of my aims for this race had been to a) assess the progress of my ongoing Achilles issues, b) if they cropped up to see if my body and brain would cope with them and c) translate this information into the feasibility of running a longer distance. My calf cramped up which was the reliable precursor of worse to come. However, my handler Bhauliya massaged this away and for the first time in forever, it didn't come back. This was progress. The whole achilles/peroneal was inflamed though and the whole ankle swelled by about 20 %. This was an ongoing battle of the race, which we managed with compression sleeves and marijuana cream I was given with strict instructions to apply topically only.
Helper Bauliya (left) and Susan (right)
I decided I would learn to run with pain, and I did. While the burning in the achilles subsided quite a lot with the cream, the swelling never went away. But don’t worry, I had plenty of other problems. The pain in my feet was so bad that in my last couple of hours every night I would walk the course, biting my fist, and gripping my head in an imaginary tearing out my of hair. Only a few weeks after the race ended, when I was pondering how and why I came to have such terrible foot trouble, did I twig. My entire year of training for the race had been done predominantly on trails, and while this probably helped me in millions of other ways, didn’t prepare me for the cold hard impact of the pavement. Since that little epiphany, in my lead up to my next race, I’ve adopted a strict concrete diet, with the most minimalist of footwear, and the occasional barefoot foray.
I cautioned my approach - running and a lot of walking, particularly in the afternoons. Long miles, long days stretched into a mindset of drudgery and defeat. My race plan became an artificial imposition composed of caution, self doubt and past experience resulting in a boring and mentally executed experience. And as it turns out, it was not helping me. Walking is actually harder on the feet, it involves more contact with the ground. But these are all things you don’t know until you do. And this was actually one of my goals of the race – to unconditionally proceed, regardless of inspiration or condition.
A few years back, a problem was not something I could live with – it was something that consumed my attention. I wasted so much time – stopping after every lap, trying this, trying that. It was like waiting for perfectly clear weather to play a game of cricket. But at some point, while I fought with my insoles and sulked in the corner, I noticed other runners going round and round, not stopping, slowly but surely building up miles. The joy of their momentum entered into me, and I resolved to change my approach. So I had learned something, but I still needed to learn more. And while I was aiming for more time spent on the course, I work better when I take more breaks, run a little faster while I’m actually out there and recover better for the next leg.
I planned many escapes from the race. On the third morning (end of day two. By the way, this is actually a seven-day race, spanning six 24 periods. This had one of my supporters in Australia emailing me, endlessly confused, telling me the results were always delayed, reassuring me the race was nearly over when it wasn’t) I woke up with my tonsils inflamed. I whined to my helper, hoping to be presented to a doctor as soon as one was available, but the relentless Bhauliya chirpily administered me with Vitamin C and kicked me back round the track. On the sixth morning (day 5) I took a COVID test – the dry cough and goops of snot surely manifestations of serious illness but escape denied – the test was negative.
I had mental escapes in dreams of the end. I fantasised about being at the laundromat, washing off what I’d spilt on my red jacket that was now permanently stuck with me. I eyed the sleeves of my green jacket that were darkened with the sweat I’d wiped from my face and visualised attacking them with a brush. My running clothes were feeling like prison garb, civilian dress the finery of the free. Waking from one brief nap I became transfixed by my terrible toenails. Bhauliya summoned my attention back to the race, repeatedly insisting this was not the time. (Although we could have sent a photo to my mother, who loves to proclaim upon each sighting of my quite classic runners feet that they should both be amputated.)
The possibilities were dwindling. From a goal of 450 miles, I was facing a strategy that would get me to 400. And I was in second place, about which I was ambivalent. I’d basically accomplished my goal. I’d proved I could run 60+ miles a day without grumbling and moaning. I’d shown my mind I could have a physical problem and still do okay. But I was not overjoyed. The heart is never happy with anything less than full speed, and I was limiting myself.
At this point a friend of mine who has done much much better in these races than I have taken this moment to make me face what I was trying to hide from. She could see I could do better than I was, and encouraged me to aim much higher. She said I was running from the mind again, and if I opened my heart much more was possible. I’m very shy with pushing beyond. We tend to think that failure is worse than lack of success, but actually, failure and success are inconsequential compared to our effort, and what we achieve through just trying. I also knew it was going to be painful, I mulled on her recommendations for a lap, then next time I came round to Bhauliya said “We’re going for the top now.” Of course she was right in.
Finally, I was enjoying the race. The hours became less long because I needed and valued each one. Each mile was precious, each lap either a gain or loss of position. I was knocking upon the walls and barriers in my own mind and finding they were illusory. The joy in a multi-day race is that it does take you beyond your mind. It invites the unknown directly into every part of your being. Slowly but surely my mileage climbed and by the end of the night, I was in the first position.
If you’d ever like to see a live action zombie experience, do come along to the end of the six day race when year, especially when there’s been a good competition on between a couple of the runners. I had slept two hours and by the final hours was slightly broken on the course, moving on autopilot, running weird mathematics through my head calculating my pace and resulting mileage. I was walking, trying not to cry, and almost disbelieving I had done it.
At noon the race ended – I had reached 442 miles. While the other runners slapped each other on the back and participated in the camaraderie, I slunk into my tent. I was feeling sick, weird, and totally exhausted. They brought me lunch whereupon I demonstrated it is possible to eat salad lying down. (Why did they give me that?).
It took me more than a few days to recover and I was left with an unusual sense of how thin the line is between victory and defeat, often the result of a single decision. Although looking kindly at myself I see that a crossroads is only reached after many before it, and each decision we make is bolstered by the wisdom of all our good and bad experiences. The decision to finally step into the heart came when I saw that my mind had got me somewhere, but not where I wanted to be. My heart called me in and showed me what it could do for me.
The end of the race
We all believe in miracles. And what is a miracle but a power beyond our comprehension (working in our favour)? But through persistence, through determination, through gradual development of awareness, knowledge and capacity that comes from the heart’s aspiration to transform itself and all, we become that miracle. Conditions are never right. We are never perfect. But when we proceed, accepting the challenges not as obstacles, but as the explanation for why we are not where we want to be, and taking this opportunity to transform part of our world. Although our limitations are our present story, we take a walk, a run, or a leap of faith, because our inner eyes are seeing that we have more to give to this world around us. And through our efforts, these miracles become real. We carve them into the soil of time, we create tracks for others to follow.
Winning the race was not a miracle. A miracle is every runner there who believed they could do something unbelievable, and every person who knows that despite their conditions, despite themselves, despite the world around them, we will all soon be more if we believe, take a step and proceed.
When a great person helps you to discover your soul
Video
Irina Malikova was the head of international relations for the Gorbachev Founndation, and a dear friend of President Gorbachev and Sri Chinmoy. The following are some excerpts from their video interview.
Irina: When Guru came to visit where where we were staying at Dimitri (my son) immediately rushed towards him, sat on his lap embraced him and said this is my grandpa.
Agraha: Guru tells a story too - this is direct quote from Guru:
Sri Chinmoy with gifts for Irina and Dmitri, 2004
This is a story about Dimitri, Irina Malikova's little son. Today I was talking to him on the phone. I said, “Lotika will be here shortly. When she goes back to Moscow, I will send lots and lots of gifts for you.”
On 29th November 1977, Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditations at the United Nations sponsored a programme to honour the memory and life of Martin Luther King Jr. at the United Nations. Mrs King was the guest of honour and keynote speaker for the 10th anniversary of her husband's assassination. 
Sri Chinmoy opened the programme with a short meditation.
Sri Chinmoy said of Mrs. King "In you I see the living presence of our beloved brother."
Sanjaya Spettigue from Ipswich, England has been studying meditation with Sri Chinmoy since 1976. Over the years, he has developed an encyclopediac knowledge of the Mahabharata, India's great epic story which is longer than the Illiad and the Oddyssey combined. During our meditation gatherings, Sri Chinmoy would often ask him to regale us with stories from this epic, and in doing so he would bring forward such a wealth of knowledge, it seemed as if he was telling us events that he had seen happen before his very eyes.
