[indistinct chatter]
[ball thwacking]
[female weather reporter 1] Meteorologist Linda Church in New York City.
The next few days are absolutely ridiculously hot.
[male weather reporter 1] Temperatures climbing into triple digits.
[male weather reporter 2] We do have a heat advisory
that's in effect right now until 7:00 p.m.
It's in effect again tomorrow in all five boroughs of the city.
[female weather reporter 2] My feet are baking, my face is sweating
and it feels like 105-110 degrees.
[female weather reporter 1] If you can make your plans indoors,
please do so.
Don't go running around
trying to catch up on tennis, golf, this, that and the other thing
'cause it's way, way too hot.
[siren wailing in the distance]
[woman] Very good, Ashprihanal.
- [breathes heavily] - [stopwatch ticking]
[car door closes]
[stove hissing]
[hissing stops]
[slurping]
[exhales]
[scraping]
[machine whirring]
[Jigyasu Tervo] And, uh, so what are your plans for the next summer?
Are you, like, planning to run?
Maybe the long race?
I need a break, you know, it's just run, run, run, run.
I want a change.
Well, I mean, if you think about it, you're...
You know, like... Okay, you're 44?
- What is your age, by the way? - 45.
Forty-five years young.
- Yeah. Yeah. - That's why I feel
that, you know, it maybe for you the last chance.
Yeah, but I have run so much that... I have run enough, you know?
I just broke the world record,
and also, you know, I ran it 13 times, 3,100.
I've seen that block enough.
I've been running, running, running like a...
[stammering] ...energizer bunny, you know, around the same block.
At least you can try.
But maybe if you don't do it next summer, it may be...
too late to do your best anymore, you know.
Well, the thing is that if I go there,
- then I have to try to win. - Okay.
[chuckles] And then I suffer again.
[all chanting in other language]
[music fades]
[narrator on TV] It's 2002.
Sri Chinmoy is inaugurating the annual marathon held in his honor
- in New York each August. - [crowd cheering]
From his early years at an ashram in India,
he was the champion sprinter,
winning 16 consecutive titles in the 100-meter dash.
[Sri Chinmoy on TV] I practiced meditation every day
at least for eight hours.
And by the grace of God,
I found there was no barrier
between spirituality and athletics.
The inner life and the outer life
can easily go together.
[narrator] Sri Chinmoy was a tireless advocate for world peace,
and he believed in the unifying power of sports.
[Sri Chinmoy] I am a student of peace.
- I feel that physical fitness... - [crowd cheering]
...is of paramount importance in achieving peace.
[narrator] He was a quintessential force
in the running boom of the 1970s,
beginning the early editions of the New York City Marathon with meditations.
And in 1997,
he launched the Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race,
the longest certified road race in the world.
[Sri Chinmoy] Ashiprihanal, our fastest runner,
so good, so good.
[narrator] Since his passing in 2007,
thousands of his students from all around the world
have continued his legacy to promote peace through sports
and have touched the lives of millions.
Even in his 70s,
despite punishing injuries from decades of running,
- he could not resist the allure of the track. - [gunfire]
He once wrote,
"God's philosophy is simpler than the simplest.
Never give up.
Never give up."
[crowd applauding]
[Rupantar LaRusso] Okay! Attention, please!
So, we welcome everyone to the 20th Annual
Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race.
[cheers and applause]
What really makes this race special is its spiritual focus.
The 3,100-Mile Race really is the embodiment of Self-Transcendence.
But this is the only race that I might say that can guarantee
to the runners
that no matter when you cross the finish line,
or how many miles you do,
you will be changed,
and you will be changed for the better.
[applause]
Okay, I have to say one more thing.
Sri Chinmoy gave me the permission
that if I decide to pull you out of the race,
you are out of the race for whatever reason.
If there's something going on, you have a problem,
and I say you're out of the race,
you are out of the race and it's not a question.
Okay, is that clear to everyone?
That's very important. Okay?
Thank you very much.
[applause]
Good luck!
[Ashprihanal Aalto] You never know what you're gonna get in the race.
I'm simple, I don't...
Some people believe you have to have
this and this food or this and this vitamins, or...
All that doesn't really matter right, so much.
The main thing is to be spiritual and meditate.
I'm actually trying to imagine in what way
I would be different after the race.
And this kind of often keeps me going.
[Ashprihanal] For me, the goal is to transform myself,
to become a better person.
And running itself is a meditation,
so, it's nice.
[Sahishnu Szczesiul] Okay, good morning, ladies and gentlemen,
and welcome to the 20th Annual Sri Chinmoy
Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race.
I'd like to introduce the runners.
- [crowd applauding] - From Vienna, Austria,
she's done over 1000 miles.
She's done multi-days for many decades,
please welcome Shamita Achenbach-Konig.
[cheers and applause]
Also from Vinnytsya, Ukraine,
he's ranked 11th of all time,
he has three finishes of best of 45 days,
sixteen hours, Yuri Trostenyuk!
[applause]
And our top ranked runner who is ranked number one.
He has 13 finishes, eight victories.
He broke the record by 23 hours and ten minutes last year,
reaching 3,100 miles in 40 days,
nine hours, six minutes and 21 seconds,
please welcome from Helsinki, Finland,
the great Ashprihanal Aalto.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
Gentlemen and lady runners,
take it one day at a time,
one lap at a time.
Enjoy the race.
Run with energy, run with lightness,
run with childlike qualities
and your mind won't bother you as much.
[all laughing]
Okay, we'll have a one minute of silent meditation,
if all the runners could line up behind the line here.
This is the start line going in the clockwise direction.
[cameras clicking]
Five, four, three, two, one, go!
[cheers and applause]
[Sahishnu] Good luck!
[cheers and applause continues]
[all singing]
Hey, Shamita, we got you...
[Ashprihanal] I sometimes, like, talk to myself.
A little bit crazy.[laughs]
So, last year after this race,
when I went home I realized that
I'm not quite recovered the way I thought I was.
I was delivering papers. That was my only training.
But I went to Arizona,
and there's a big Indian reservation.
Navajo.
And there's this race that I ran,
it's such a beautiful race.
Thirty-five miles,
but still kind of easy.
Navajo culture is always to run,
in the morning towards the east.
So we start towards the sunrise.
[crowd howling]
Really, I loved it, you know.
It was so beautiful, the canyon.
Beautiful nature.
And then the race started with this
Indian, uh, spiritual ceremony.
[chanting in Navajo]
[Shaun Martin] You run to celebrate life.
You run because it's a form of prayer.
You can go to any hogan
during a ceremony and listen to a medicine man pray.
But you can pray, too, through your feet,
through your breath.
Because running is a prayer.
You're speaking to mother earth with your feet,
you're breathing in father sky.
That is a prayer.
You're telling them, you're asking them for blessings,
you're showing them that you're willing to work
for that prayer, for those blessings.
And while you're out there running
you learn about the land,
the sky,
the creator, the holy people, and you make a connection.
When you make that connection...
- [crowd cheering and applauding] - ...you will be a champion.
You will become a warrior.
[woman] Finishing at 90409...
[Shaun] In seventh place...
He's from Finland.
He ran the Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race
and set a new course record.
This thing, they run around that one city block in New York...
[woman] Oh, that one.
...for 3,100 miles.
[woman exclaims] What?
So, when he was at the turnaround,
he was there about ten seconds
and then he skipped down to scramble.
He skipped down, and I'm like,
"Yeah, he's just getting warmed up."
[all laugh]
A guy that's become very near and dear to my heart...
[crowd whooping]
...Ashprihanal Aalto.
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[Ashprihanal] So, I did run there.
But in my eyes, I really didn't train at all.
[Rupantar] Ashprihanal, wow, 56.
Very good.
He's running as well as he was running last year.
Record breaking pace.
Surasa, 53.
[watch ticking]
[narrator] Human beings evolved to run great distances for survival.
In Southern Africa,
the Kalahari Desert is a hard, dry land.
Yet, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari
have thrived in this bitter land
for over 100,000 years.
Key to their survival is the ancient art of persistence hunting...
[Jumanda Gakelebone speaking]
...chasing their prey on foot.
[Jumanda speaking]
[narrator] With keen eyes and swift legs,
men hunt meat for their families
and all the people who live together.
So, they'll just run after it?
- [Jumanda] Yeah. - Mmm-hmm.
[Jumanda continues speaking]
[narrator] To become hunters,
boys must being early to learn the ancient techniques
of running, shooting and tracking.
[Tess] And I understand that the government
has now imposed a hunting ban on the bushmen.
Can you tell me a little bit more about this
and how it's affecting your people?
[Jumanda continues speaking]
[speaking other language]
[indistinct chatter continues]
[Jumanda continues speaking in English]
[children chattering]
[Jumanda speaking other language]
Mmm.
[speaking other language]
[both laughing]
[both continue speaking in other language]
[sitar playing]
[female weather reporter] In local news,
dangerous temperatures across the area,
a heat advisory now in effect.
[male weather reporter] It is a real summer scorcher.
Temperatures in the 90s today and if you have to be outside,
you know the heat index had to be even higher.
The subway, it was just sweltering.
CBS2's weather team's got every angle covered,
Vanessa Murdock shows us how the intense heat is affecting people outside.
[female weather reporter] First, Lonnie Quinn is monitoring the temperatures,
and also some possible storms... [continues indistinctly]
[man] What's difficult about this race?
Sixty miles a day, 18 hours on your feet.
[man] Okay. And the guy that just went by, Ashprihanal,
how can you explain that a guy that's done this race 13 times
he's on number 14 now?
Um, he's a bird.
- [chuckles] - He's tiny.
[man] But how can you explain him doing last year 76.776 miles a day?
- When he hadn't done that? - [Ray] He is the best in the world
right now from a physiological standpoint,
and he's better mentally than he is physiologically.
That's how you explain that.
[man] People don't know that he
hiked solo the Appalachian Trail
- and the Pacific Crest Trail... - Yeah, you told me that.
When he was 21 years old.
Yeah, you told me that, yeah.
- And that builds strength that never goes away, you know. - That builds strength.
Ray, what about mental training?
How can somebody approach this?
Do they need a coach?
Or do they need their life experience
to get through something like this?
[Ray] Life experience more than a coach or anything.
I think mental toughness is overrated.
No amount of mental toughness
is gonna get us to something we can't do.
[Dohai speaking German]
Huh?
[continues in German]
[both speaking German]
[Dohai speaks in German]
Uh-huh.
[Shamita speaking in German]
[both speaking in German]
[Dohai in English] I would insist that she make a break
so that she can digest.
- Yeah, okay, okay. - If she eats and drinks and eats,
the stomach always, uh... [stammering]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, always working.
It's mixing, it doesn't digest.
Does not really, really works perfect.
But if it's so hot, you have to drink. And...
[both speaking German]
[Dohai in English] Now she's making a break, yeah, Shamita.
[man] Right now? [Dohai] Now, yes.
[man speaking]
[Dohai] Yeah.
She's totally exhausted.
[continues in German]
[Shamita speaking German]
[Dohai speaking German]
[both speaking German]
[Shamita sighs]
[cello playing]
So, are you excited about the race upcoming?
Of course.
I mean, it's a long, long preparation.
Like, in January, I decided to do this.
And you grow into this project.
In the beginning, it's like overwhelming,
- like for many, many parts. - Mmm-hmm.
For your mind, and for your emotions, and everything.
And then you start training, and then you come a little bit into it.
When you were saying that so many people ask you
if you are going to run the race,
and you were actually thinking maybe, maybe.
I was dead against it
because I almost lost you 20 years ago
- when you did a 100 kilometer race... - Mmm-hmm.
- ...in Vienna and you almost died. - Mmm-hmm.
Um, I mean, this is something that always accompanies you,
but I'm not afraid of it.
Because, um, I'm not afraid of it.
Of course, yeah, when we die we die,
but we also have to live when we live. [chuckles]
[Dohai] Petra! She's awake.
[Dohai in German]
[in English] I took a little rest, it was half past two.
Congratulations.
Go that way.
[Rupantar] She's a great runner, you know,
that she recovered so quickly.
You know, from based on what happened in the heat,
it shows you what kind of shape she's in.
But what happens when it gets hot, you know?
It's not hot yet.
What happens when it gets 96-97?
The race will find your weakness,
and if you can't overcome that, that's a problem.
The race is merciless like that.
It will find a weakness and magnify it.
[bird chirping]
[Ajari Mitsunaga speaking Japanese]
[continues in Japanese]
[prayer beads rattling]
[clapping]
[speaking in Japanese]
[Ajari continues in Japanese]
[prayer beads rattling]
[continues in Japanese]
[country song playing]
[woman speaking indistinctly]
[speaking in other language]
[rhythmic clapping]
[Ashprihanal] How do you define a real running race?
If it's a real running race,
then you have to cut your hair
while you're in the middle of the race.
All other races are just considered sprints.
[Shaun] You get up and you run every morning before the sun rises,
as the sun is rising because
the sun rises the birth of a new day.
When I was going into the fourth grade, my dad said
"Do you know why I make you run every morning?"
I said, "No, you're mean?"
[all laughing]
He said, "No,
because when I was in the fourth grade, I ran for my life."
[Shaun] This is the...
Little Colorado river wash right here.
This is the echo, this... Oh, right there...
[Allen] Oh, this is Canyon Diablo right here.
That boarding school where we ran away from was down the river here.
We ran that mostly at nighttime.
[Shaun] Do you know how old you were when you...
I can't remember, six, five, six, something like that.
They were instilling in me false information about
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
and Ben Franklin were my forefathers and...
Which, you know, it wasn't true.
And they made us eat soap if we got caught speaking Navajo.
The saying was,
"Kill the Indian and save the man."
[indistinct chatter]
[speaking in Navajo]
[continues praying in English]
[continues in Navajo]
[Allen sighs and hums]
[Allen breathing sharply]
- [in English] Run carefully. - [laughs] Yeah.
See you guys.
[sighs]
[Allen] Happy running.
[Allen speaking in Navajo]
[Ashprihanal] Yeah, it's like... This race feels...
After a week of running it feels like it's gonna go on forever.
So everything gets kind of tougher.
Like foot problems.
These things.
Once the skin gets harder, and like chafing also.
In the beginning I always get but...
Even though I put so much corn starch... [coughs]
But still, the body is kind of adapted,
except maybe to the heat.
This kind of exhaustion and heat problems,
they... they can come any time.
But now, I really haven't felt my normal.
I've been coughing and...
God knows what I have.
It's been going on for quite a while now.
So the plans can change always here.
You never know,
If I can get well,
then I can start flying again.
[Nirbhasa Magee] Hey, Ashprihanal.
Um, like when I did it, I was going home at maybe 11:30, 11:35.
And then, about day 27 or day 28,
you know, I realized I was kind of on the wire to finish this...
[laughs] ...and I better start, stop slacking.
[woman] Middle of the day is the hardest part.
[Nirbhasa] Right, exactly.
The thing is about this race
you really need to be out here all the time.
You know, as much as you possibly can.
Excellent, Surasa, gotcha.
Yeah, you gotta be like military about it.
You gotta be military about your shower,
you gotta be military about, you know,
somebody's giving you a massage, you're like,
"Okay, that's it."
You know, you gotta eat, you know.
For example Ashprihanal,
who's going around and,
when he set the world record last year,
he made it a policy to be in bed by 12:34.
You know, that was his goal,
to be in at 12:34.
And then I think he was up at like, 5:37.
No, it really was, it was like that.
Gotcha, Yuri.
That's amazing,
the capacity of the human being,
whether you run a marathon or you run a race like this.
Okay, you feel pain, you feel suffering,
but then, you forget about all that stuff.
Excellent, Shamita, I gotcha.
[chirping]
[grinding]
[clapping]
[Ajari speaking Japanese]
[grinding]
[clapping]
[footsteps]
[Shamita] Okay, I'll start.
Talking to myself is a little funny.
Um...
Yesterday was a very, very hot day,
I think 38 degrees Celsius.
And I started quite gentle.
I drank a lot,
I got all my supplements.
And in the afternoon I felt really like,
totally exhausted, oh, my God.
Took a little bit of rest,
and then I started walking again,
and running and walking and running.
And then four hours later,
I went to see our doctor here.
And then he said, "Wow, no,
you are a little bit dehydrated."
So... I got liquid,
a lot of liquid.
And of course I asked God
why does it have to be so, so intense.
But today I'm not risking anything,
so I'm having a walking day today.
[indistinct chatter]
[Rupantar] I had a long talk with a doctor from Germany today about, uh...
[man] What did he say?
[Rupantar] He said that when it gets hot,
we just have to keep a closer eye on the runners,
make sure they drink their electrolytes.
And then he, uh,
said a few things about Shamita,
we just have to watch her in the heat.
She can't push beyond her capacity.
[siren wailing in the distance]
[Shamita retching]
[Dohai speaking in foreign language]
[in English] I kept telling her, "You don't handle the heat well."
[man on phone] And she agrees?
Well, I don't know if she agreed,
but I got my message through.
I said "We're asking you to stop running."
And, I had to repeat it over and over again,
but I made it clear that
she's not going to run again.
- [man on phone] Yeah. We all agree. - Yeah.
[cello playing]
[Sri Chinmoy] We surrender
what we have and what we are
to the supreme pilot.
What we have is our eagerness
to become His perfect instruments,
in his own way.
And what we are,
at this moment,
is nothing short of
a veritable beggar,
a helpless child,
in the densest forest.
[rooster crows]
[Jumanda speaking]
[hens clucking]
[indistinct chatter]
[Jumanda speaking]
[speaking foreign language]
[Gaolo speaking foreign language]
Okay, let's get the stuff out.
Okay, let's get this stuff... Are you sure?
There we go.
[door closes]
[Rupantar] Hi, Rupantar here,
day 21
of the Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race
and the race marches on and takes its toll.
Started with 12 runners now we have 10.
Voldamir and Shamita are no longer in the race.
And wow, Ashprihanal is in fourth place.
Sometimes you just have to surrender
to the obstacles that the race presents
and there's always another day to run.
And, signing out.
[phone beeps]
[Ashprihanal] When Guru passed away,
it was like, kind of a gap.
Something was missing.
But, he's still guiding us
to stay inspired.
That's what keeps me going.
He really liked the race.
It was his favorite.
[Ashprihanal speaking]
[Petra speaking]
[Ashprihanal laughs]
[bell tolling in distance]
[Rupantar] All right, everybody to the start please, downhill.
Everybody to the start.
All right, it's gonna be a very cool day,
a good day to get your miles in.
All right, runners,
on your marks, go!
[all cheering]
[Ashprihanal] I did two 70-mile days now in a row,
but all before that...
[panting] ...for many days
I was like,
how is it that I'm pushing and pushing
just to get 60 miles?
And that's not normal, I knew.
Because I was actually trying my best many days.
It wasn't that I was just fooling around,
people maybe thought so.
I was coughing for a week,
I was cold.
There was one day I only was walking,
and that was when I felt this
burning in my lungs,
it was so bad.
And now this toe is hurting.
So I have to tape it next lap.
[panting]
So it's really
my hardest race this year.
You know, I feel like
my life is one big circle.
[panting]
Especially when you realize that
there's thousands of miles to go.
[panting]
[crowd cheering]
[Sri Chinmoy] Tomorrow's disciple
will be the fastest spiritual runner.
His code of life
will be to run
and become and become and run.
He'll run in order to succeed,
he'll become in order to proceed.
At times he will run and reach the goal,
at times the goal
will come to him.
[Shaun] You know, growing up,
getting up and running
every morning down the road, it was one thing...
It was one thing to hear the stories
of boarding schools,
and the trails that
[voice shaking] taught you how to become the person you became.
So, the significance of this run for me is
that my son, and my daughter,
can receive the same,
the same teachings.
[Allen] It was hard times.
We didn't know the dangers were there.
There were kids that
freezed to death,
died of thirst, dehydration,
just running out there.
[Shaun] I intentionally pushed myself
when I was a kid [sniffles]
to hurt while we ran.
[voice shaking] To try to experience those things
that you experienced.
For the same reasons you ran,
I think, I think,
deep down, that's why I ran too.
[groans]
I can't lift my leg.
[groaning]
[Rupantar] Good morning. Rupantar here, day 35
of the Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race.
We've never had a race this close.
Today's headline,
Yuri from Ukraine is running the race of his life.
He has risen to second place
with Ashprihanal nipping at his heels.
The question is whether he will ultimately
hold off Ashprihanal,
who has finally broken out of his doldrums.
And here comes one of the brave warriors now.
Good morning, Yuri.
And let us see what today has to offer.
[thunder rumbling]
[Ashprihanal] So, one morning,
when I was running here,
I realized that I had been fooled.
Because the brochure about the race
said that
you're going to have a nice sunny vacation
with friends,
all you can eat buffet...
[panting] ...in the capital city of the world,
with, you know,
great culture,
many people around.
Yeah. Like a great place to spend your vacation here.
[man] Looking good, Yuri!
[Ashprihanal] And what happened was that,
I didn't read the little text in the brochure because,
in America,
everything you buy in America has this little text.
Oh, if you drink coffee
you might burn your tongue and your mouth,
or you drown in it
if you put your whole head in your cup.
These kinds of warnings always.
So, when I had a break,
I went to see the brochure
and I saw the little text.
[panting] And then, I read it,
and it said things like,
"Even though it's all you can eat buffet,
you're not gonna gain any weight,
you're gonna lose weight."
And then it said, like,
"The sunny vacation with friends
will be all 17-hour,
all day military training."
[panting]
And that was my mistake.
I forgot to read the little text.
[playing flute]
[Nirbhasa] Four people have been in the lead
at some point or another in this race
and it's lead to this very interesting situation now,
where, at day 36,
which is a comparatively late stage of the race,
you know, you've got the three leading runners
at 16 miles apart.
You have, for example,
Ashprihanal at a very early stage
having to deal with cough and fever.
You know, but then, Vasu,
having to deal with foot blisters now
probably for something like a week and a half, two weeks.
You know, Atmavir has been,
compared to previous years,
has actually been doing really, really well.
And the only one who has remained comparatively
problem-free has been Yuri.
Excellent Yuri, 41.
Good, good, good.
[Yuri speaking foreign language]
- [thunder rumbling] - [rain pattering]
[sobbing]
[Sahishnu] It's not so much a competitive thing.
I think Ashprihanal doesn't really care
whether he finishes third, second or first.
But I think there is a modicum of competitiveness inside him
- that still burns. - [Nirbhasa] Yeah, exactly.
[Sahishnu] And he knows he's only got 740 or 760 miles left.
[Nirbhasa] Yeah.
And it's not that hard for him.
And once maybe the heat breaks
he could pick it up to 70,
and then whoever comes along with him
will come along.
[Nirbhasa] Yes, excellent.
So you're back out from your break.
Good, good, good.
Also, what this race does,
it exposes everything about you,
- whether you want it to happen or not. - [Nirbhasa] Yeah.
Your emotions are right on your sleeve.
And so, you have to really have that control.
And I think only through
the power of meditation,
it's not just a control of the mind,
- but going deep within it. - Yeah, exactly.
I think it can help you
to get through blisters
or the heat-related episodes
or just so many darn miles.
[speaking Japanese]
[grinding]
[Sri Chinmoy] Run and become,
we run, we become.
We run in the outer world,
we become in the inner world.
[Gaolo speaking foreign language]
[Sri Chinmoy] Inspiration
helps us run
toward the length and breadth of the world.
It helps us
run far, farther, farthest.
A chosen instrument of our beloved Supreme.
[horses neighing]
[Allen speaking English]
[Allen speaking foreign language]
[Allen speaking English]
[Sri Chinmoy] Inspiration tells us to look around
and thus feel
and see boundless light,
energy, power.
Aspiration tells us to dive deeply
and enjoy boundless delight, nectar, bliss.
[grinding]
[Sri Chinmoy] At every moment, we are transcending
our achievements.
we are transcending what we have
and what we are.
At every moment through running,
to become, belong,
to become something great,
sublime, divine and supreme.
Today's goal
is the starting point for tomorrow's new dawn.
[Rupantar] Hi, good morning, Rupantar here.
Day 46, the story is Yuri.
Holding off Ashprihanal's push.
The two top will finish tomorrow.
Okay, got a lot of
activity now to prepare,
and signing off.
[Nirbhasa] Okay, Vasu, 90.
[Sahishnu] It's shaping up to be
the closest finish we've ever had in this race.
Yuri, four, five days ago,
had a 27-mile lead on Ashprihanal.
- Okay, good, gotcha. - And then Sunday,
here comes Ashprihanal
and he throws up a 76.
[Nirbhasa] Ashprihanal is gaining,
you know, four to five to six miles, everyday.
Um...
And, you know, slowly inching up,
slowly inching up.
Um... Particularly...
Excellent Yuri, I got you!
Today, you know, I was counting earlier on today,
and you could see for a couple of hours there,
it was a little bit
beginning to get at Yuri, you know.
Somehow, you know, this feeling,
this guy's coming up at me,
he's gaining a mile,
a mile and a half every hour.
And somehow you just feel that
at some point he just made a decision
that I'm not going to let this get at me.
[Sahishnu] As a lover of competition,
because it usually brings out the best in you,
just as long as you can keep it gentlemanly.
And they are, I mean, they know.
Okay Ashprihanal. I have you.
[Sahishnu] In order for Ashprihanal
to get a legitimate chance of winning in the race,
starting tomorrow,
assuming they have about
12 to 15 miles to go,
could be less,
depending upon how they push it tonight.
I would say he has to be
- between one and two miles behind. - Exactly.
And he'll gain ground on Yuri tomorrow,
but it's gonna be really tight.
- Could be a hand-in-hand finish. - Yeah.
[Ashprihanal] And for me, the last few days, it's like going...
[panting] ...almost to my last year's standard.
And, Yuri has
raised his own standard to a new level.
And because I'm doing 75 miles, 76 mile days
he also started doing more.
[Yuri speaking foreign language]
[Ashprihanal] I'm making them suffer a little bit.
[laughs]
Because I'm sure he would like to just do 65 miles.
[laughs]
But, this is not only a spiritual journey or something,
it's a race!
[Ashprihanal] It's my meditation,
that's what keeps me going.
[man] He's a bird.
[Shaun] It's too far,
it's too long,
it's too hot.
[man] I've seen what he can do,
but I don't know
if there's anything left
to be able to do more.
[Ashprihanal] And I'm running for my Guru.
[Sri Chinmoy chanting] Run, run, run, run, run.
[Ashprihanal] It's my meditation,
that's what keeps me going.
[Rupantar] Hi, good morning.
It's day 47,
Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race,
and what an evening we had.
Ashprihanal, wow, 86 miles.
Picking up the pace
as the finish line
becomes more clearer and clearer
and nearer and nearer.
[Rupantar] Okay, runners to the start please!
Runners to the start please!
Downhill.
Runners to the start.
Okay, runners,
to your marks, go!
[all cheering]
[singing and clapping]
[all cheering and clapping]
[Ashprihanal panting] Last night I did my best.
It was kind of my last shot.
But then, Yuri kept going faster.
What happens, happens, you know.
Here we go.
[all clapping and cheering]
[indistinct chatter]
[all cheering and clapping]
[Sri Chinmoy] Who is the winner?
Not he who wins,
but he who has established
his cheerful oneness with the result,
he who loves to run sleeplessly and breathlessly with God,
a supreme runner,
he who requires only one thing,
God's satisfaction in God's own way.
[all clapping]
[Ashprihanal] I mean, I try to win the races,
and I often do.
But that's not the main thing.
The goal is to do your best
and then you are happy with whatever happens.
That's a good feeling.
[all cheering and clapping]
What do you say about someone who's done this race 14 times?
[crowd cheering]
[indistinct chattering]
[Ashprihanal speaks]
[man speaking]
- [man] No? - [laughter]
[indistinct chattering]
[Allen] Protect them on the road,
on their way, on their endeavors,
the opportunities that they have...
[continues speaking indistinctly]
[indistinct chattering and laughter]
[crowd cheering and clapping]