There were four of us running through the park, when a police car went by.

My younger brother, Colm, had an idea. "Okay, so you get clamped for parking in the wrong space and you get penalty points for speeding and you get jailed for robbing someone" he said, "What I want to know, is why don't they give you plus points for doing something like getting out and running through the park, or picking up the litter. And they should give you a medal for helping old ladies"

I realised this is probably the exact way a four or five year old would see the world.

I am following very keenly the progress of the 3100 Mile Self Transcendence race, the longest road race in the world, not least because quite a few of my friends and fellow students of my teacher Sri Chinmoy are running in it! Fortunately for me, another friend of mine, Utpal Marshall, seems determined to keep us all updated with regular video clips and interviews.

I really like these clips, especially the one taken a week after the race start- the runners talk very candidly about what they're going through physically and emotionally but also of the need to just get out there and soldier on and do the miles. Im especially pleased to see Grahak Cunningham, the first-time runner from Perth, Australia still running with a smile on his face. I was looking at some photos of the race after the three or four day mark and there was one of him sitting down during a break looking like he was staring into his own personal hell. But he obviously stood up, put one foot in front of the other and kept on going, and that's what it's all about.

These races are really all about transcendence - calling on all your hitherto untapped inner capacities to overcome these obstacles and expanding the boundaries of the possible. Ultrarunning is perhaps not normally associated with meditation but I think more and more people are beginning to see how they can go together. My meditation teacher (and race founder) Sri Chinmoy, has been visiting the course every day to express his admiration and appreciation for each of the runners - they really are challenging not only their own capacities, but also everyone elses ideas of what human beings can achieve. It's amazing to think how twelve runners going around a nondescript half-mile loop somewhere in the New York suburbs can inspire so many people across the world. They really are heroes.

Video clips taken so far:
- Video of race start
- Interviews with runners a week after the race

There is also a daily blog with results et al...
- Also a news item on allaboutrunning.net...