The joy of physical activity

The joy of physical activity has followed me right from my days in the RCMP, and every phase of my life is marked by some kind of sport or activity that gave me tremendous joy. As a member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team I was never without opportunity for ever-new experiences in the running world, weightlifting and push-up competitions.

But one of my greatest privileges in this area is the fact that Sri Chinmoy and I were in the same age category, there being only six months’ difference in our age. This meant that in many events Guru and I would be in the same race. It all started with the Green Leaves and Ripe Fruits two-mile races in Flushing Meadows Park, during which so many times Guru and I were running together, even side by side. Guru would inevitably win, but my joy in running with Guru cannot be expressed in words.

In today’s eight-hundred-metre Green Leaves and Ripe Fruits race for men and women over fifty, Vince and I were going slowly and only keeping pace with Ilona during the first four hundred metres. But we knew that we would end up going ahead of her. After four hundred metres we started widening the gap, and Ilona fell behind us by a big margin. Whenever I increased my speed, Vince would increase his speed. In the last hundred metres we had a wonderful fight. I won by only one second.

I was planning to walk the whole race, but then Vince would have had no other competitor, except for a few ladies.

Sri Chinmoy
12 April 1982 1

Even as I write these stories, I just watched a DVD of Guru’s 100m races, and I couldn’t believe it when I saw myself running beside Guru in three consecutive races on this video. What a lucky guy I am!

My greatest joy was before one of the April Celebrations when Guru organized a run, country against country. Guru also had his own team and I was a member of Guru’s team. He had special T-shirts printed for us. Can you imagine being a member of Guru’s team? I even have a picture to remember this beautiful experience.

One of the most memorable moments of my life

One day I was out running. Still hot and sweating from the run, I came by the tennis court and saw Guru sitting in the driveway. Guru called me over and asked me to kneel before him on the towel at Guru’s feet. We meditated together for what seemed like an eternity. It was one of the most memorable moments of my life. Afterwards Guru gave me a most spiritually significant message that I have told only to Hiranmoyi. Thanks to one of the kind photographers, I have a photo of this amazing experience that happened when it was least expected.

Memorable Marathons

I think that I must have run or race-walked well over 20 marathons over the course of my running days. These were all wonderful memories because Guru was present during almost all of them. The New York City Marathon was the grandest of all marathons for many reasons, but mostly because Guru was always there sitting beside the road, handing out his blessings in the form of prasad and smiling with such compassion and pride.

My first marathon experience was one of the most memorable, as it was the Inspiration Marathon put on by our marathon team in February somewhere outside New York. Every year we all used to arrive on Friday night, and after a function with Guru we would all bunk up in a small hotel. In the morning the marathon experience would begin. Often the weather was quite cold and snowy, but every time we ran this marathon it was a fantastic experience and adventure with Guru. When I finished my first marathon, Shatapatri presented me with a little toy doggy that she had found and that doggy became my mascot. I kept it in the car above the mirror for about 25 years, and it is now in my bedroom. Many other marathons we ran, but the Inspiration Marathon was a special time!

The 24-Hour Challenge

I had already run many New York City Marathons as well as other marathons, and two or three 47-mile runs, but I wanted to challenge myself to a longer ultra-marathon. I was in pretty good shape (for me) because I had been doing interval training with the Lions Club running group every day. I had also participated in shorter races with various masters meets. So the idea of a 24-hour run that was being held by our marathon running team at the Terry Fox Stadium in Ottawa attracted my attention. I wasn’t nervous about it because I had planned my strategy very carefully: run one lap and then walk one lap. As it turned out, this simple strategy kept me feeling energetic and allowed me to do 92 1⁄2 miles in 24 hours. I felt terrific about this achievement. I attribute my success to the encouragement of the disciples at the event. It was a very meditative experience as well because I chanted “Never give up!„ and “Supreme„ the whole way. How proud my soul was of me! I could really feel it after the run and the feeling of elation lasted for a long time. I would never in a million years have thought of participating in such an event if it had not been for Guru’s inspiration. How much joy it brought me! Even now when I think of it, I smile with gratitude to Guru.

Enthusiastically participating

Even after I lost sight in one eye, I still tried to fulfill Guru’s comments about me and continued to walk the 3100-mile race course and around the Divine Enterprises while Guru was driving in the morning. I think Guru always appreciated that, in spite of my physical difficulties, I was enthusiastically participating as I had always done. Often Guru would stop while driving to give special prasad, and I would really treasure those tasty blessed morsels!

• 1. Sri Chinmoy, Run and become, become and run, part 10, Agni Press, 1983