The 27th annual Self Transcendence 3100-Mile Race took place in 2023 from August 30th to October 20th. At the start there were 14 athletes from 10 countries. For me this was the 15th start since 2004.
Despite the fact that the race has been shifted to autumn for the third year in a row in order to catch more favourable weather conditions, the first few weeks were like in the middle of summer: +36C and up to 95% humidity… That is, complete extreme at the very beginning. And already in the first week I started having difficulties – my body simply couldn’t cope with such hard weather. Several times in the morning I felt so bad that I wanted to call Rupanthar, the race director, that I would not make it to the start. But somehow I crawled out, began to walk/run and continued to move towards the goal…
At the first day
In general, exactly these first two weeks cut my mileage greatly and at the halfway point of the 26-day into the race I was 184 miles behind the schedule. This was the moment when I finally realised that I would not meet the 52 day limit. And then miracles began)
I’ve had a few times before where I didn’t meet the limit. But usually, when I realized this, the motivation disappeared, the mind began to be harmful, put pressure on the body, and as a result, I walked for the rest of the days. The body really hurt, was weak, etc.
But this time it turned out differently. I ran until the last day! Of course, the pressure of time went away, I could take longer breaks, but still, I ran without walking days probably for the last 15-17 days, doing 80-90 km a day (which is also a lot). And I had the most bright, deep inner experiences after 40 days at the race…
Sketch with Mahasatya for the Enthusiasm Awakaners
By the way, I noticed that for the newcomers, of whom there were four this time: Mahasatya from Poland, Tsai Wen-Ya from Taiwan, Jason from the USA, Andrian from Romania – the period after 40 days turned out to be the most psychologically difficult… Mahasatya turned out to be perhaps the most balanced and enduring. Well, Tsai Wen-Ya – on the strength of will and motivation that this is her only chance in life (according to her), pushed beyond everything – tiredness, weather conditions, food poisoning…. But she also complained about the pressure when Lo Wei-Ming began to close the gap between them and eventually got ahead of her ) It seems that Jason gave up morally just during this period – he was not present at the race for several days. At the end of the race, Andrian was walking almost all time…
I am kind of qualified to write this only because I have experienced first-hand the challenge and the unbound power of the 3100-Mile Race. Many times. And I can say that it definitely prepares a lot of surprises and crash tests for you, no matter how many times you took part before. But especially if you are running for the first time with great ambitions. This is definitely a race where ego, ambitions and insincerity are subject to the most severe transformation, whether you want it or not. And it leads to a rethinking of what actually moves you forward.
How difficult and extraordinary the race is can be judged from the fact that only 6 out of 14 athletes reached the 3100 mile mark this year…
By the end of the Race
Overall, I can say that for me, the second half of the race was extremely happy. I finally recovered, my body completely adapted (I joked that my transition period lasted for 30 days), I had no injuries or even pain and I experienced a huge uplift, as can be seen in the reports. Even though I did 2,624 of the 3,100 miles and didn’t finish the entire distance, at the end of the race I felt 100% life’s fullness, inspiration and happiness. I think it was no less happiness than to complete the full distance. So I can absolutely sincerely say that the Race was a success for me!
I was inspired to do reports during the entire race – I made video reports in Russian and English for two branches of my YouTube channel. Of course, I had assistants. I filmed the material on the run and edited it – fortunately iMovie on the phone allows you to do this with one finger. And my finger is well trained after 10 years of video reporting ) Since we don’t run fast, and also walk all the hills and turns, in 5-7 laps I could easily compile everything I needed without losing mileage. Further, Anastasia Beysova translated the interview and inserted subtitles (Harikanta also did one translation). Yulia Borzenko uploaded files to YouTube. Marat Koff helped me make a slideshow with my transformation in 50 days (video of the day #51). Back in 2014, when I first started doing video reports, I made it a rule that I did not spend a single extra minute off the race lap on this activity, means I do everything on the go during the running day. There was an example with Pranjal, who recorded a report at the end of the day at home, and at the end of the race he often fell asleep in front of the camera, since he was stealing time from his rest… For me, compiling reports was fun, easy and often distracted from the difficulties of running for a couple hours. So that was a win-win situation – both for me and for the audience )
You can look through the playlist of the 3100 mile race in 2023 to restore the picture of the events. There were several particularly successful, creative or insightful reports. I put them in the playlist 3100 Golden Hits (creative reports from all the years live there)
See you next time!
Stutisheel
At the finish of the 3100-Mile Race in 2023
Am I doing all I can?
The human in me is telling me
That I am doing infinitely more
Than I can.
The divine in me is telling me
That I am doing as much
As I can.
The Supreme in me is telling me
That I have done nothing
And I can do nothing,
But that He has done
And will continue to do
Everything in and through me.
Sri Chinmoy, Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, part 61, Agni Press, 1983
3100-Mile Race results in 2023
- Andrea Marcato, 41 Dohlo, Italy / Switzerland – 43 days+13:33:23
- Wei-Ming Lo, 58, New Taipei City, Taiwan – 45 days +08:41:27
- Tsai Wen-Ya, 54, Taichung City, Taiwan – 45 days +12:28:44 WWR – 1st Woman
- Vasu Duzhiy, 57, St. Petersburg, Russia – 49 days+15:36:01
- Mahasatya Janczak, 48, Lublin, Poland – 50 days+10:30:41
- Harita Davies, 48, New Zealand & USA – 51 days +16:43:11
- Milan Javornicky, 49, Celakovice, Czech Republic – 3031.5 miles
- Jason Lester, 49, Phoenix, Arizona USA – 2700.0 miles
- Stutisheel Lebedev, 53, Kyiv, Ukraine – 2624.1 miles
- Kaneenika Janakova, 53, Slovakia / USA – 2576.4 miles
- Adrian Papuc, 55, Bucharest, Romania – 2507.9 miles
- Ananda-Lahari Zuscin, 48, Slovakia – 2421.2 miles
- Susan Marshall, 39, New Zealand – 2276.9 miles
- Nina Huang-Lan Yang, 43, Taiwan – 2072.9 miles
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