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science
October 2007 
New videos of 3100 Mile Race
Posted on Jun 26th, 2007
by 
Shane
Shane
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...
Access: Public
I too have been watching the daily results.
When I go for a long hot humid mid-west US run, I think of those guys doing lap after lap. I do think running is contemplative.
I am toying with the idea of running a 50K race on July 14. It would be my first. I know I am in shape to do road marathons, but this 50k would be on trails; much more challenging. Also, it doesn''t start until 8 am. That guarantees i would be running in the middle part of the day.
Can't really decide what to do, but this weekend I'll do a training run of 5.5 hours and then decide.
somehow i always find trails very energising, and easier to do than roadwork; i feel i can get more energy out of my surroundings.
its kind of funny watching how our mental ideas translate into physical sensations. for example, yesterday three of us went out to do some interval running. I'm usually happy leading everyone else around the track; my toughest interval was whan someone else was leading and I had to follow them. In that situation I always feel Im being shaken out of my natural rhythm and it becomes much tougher for me. For most people its completely the other way around, they would rather tuck in behind the lead guy and let their energy draw them around the course.
Around half way I was actually thinking about your comment, and wondering why dont I just change my idea? So I imagined the guy in front and me were one and the same person. That worked, to an extent….