Blog posts have been on hold for the last few weeks. Not through any sense of giving up. More that my time, these last five weeks, had been spent helping at the Sri Chinmoy 3,100-mile race in New York or writing pieces that have appeared elsewhere. Here is a little recap from the 3,100, giving a sprinkling of what I have been up to.

Returning to the Sri Chinmoy  3,100mile race

I am 35,000 feet over the southern tip of Greenland.The flight tracker screen shows almost 4 hours to my destination.Ahead of me is a few weeks in New York. Some would say that thought is exciting. Others would say it is horrific.However, I am not about to hit the city for a month. I am on my way to help at a race.

Those who know me know I help at many events. Races I organise myself, with our small Sri Chinmoy team in Scotland, or ones I help out at, organised by friends, or that I volunteer to help at, as a Scottish Athletics off-track official and Timekeeper.It could be a local five or 10-km bash, a cross-country race, or an ultra event. I have helped at many over the years. The shorter events are over in a few hours. The ultra races may involve helping for a full day or a weekend.

But this isn’t any old race I am heading for. It’s the longest certified road race in the world, The Sri Chinmoy 3100-mile race. Yes, you read that right, THREE THOUSAND, ONE HUNDRED MILE RACE, or “the thirty-one hundred,” as most people call it.Talk of such a distance may conjure up a vision of a road or a trail stretching far into the distance with stunning scenery.

This race though, is very compact and goes in loops. No, it isn’t run at the famous Central Park in Manhattan, the Mecca for New York’s runners and where the New York Marathon finishes each year. Nor at spacious Flushing Meadow Park, in the shadow of the National Tennis Centre that hosts the US Open each year and is also home to Citi Field, the New York Mets baseball team. This race is held about 2 miles from Flushing Meadow in the Borough of Queens and is run around a half-mile block, encircling the Thomas Edison High School, adjacent to the urban freeway that is Grand Central Parkway. Runners complete the loop over 5,600 times and have a time limit of 52 days to do so.

My previous blog gave a sense of how the event is managed each day.

(You can read that blog HERE. )

RACE OVERVIEW

I was in New York at the end of August a few weeks ago when the race started on August 30th.I had been to the race twice before, for short periods in 2014 and 2017 in the sweltering July heat.

Then, I was crewing for Scottish ultra runner William Sichel, a long-time friend and former fellow GB international runner.You can read a recent chat I had with William Sichel HERE

The connection with the race, you may have guessed is the Sri Chinmoy link. Having been involved in running and organising ultras for over 40 years since my mid-twenties, this race, since it was first run, in 1997, has held a fascination for me as one of the ultimate tests of human endurance in an organised event.

Sure, people run similar distances by running across America or Europe as an individual challenge or go and run the entire Pacific Crest Trail in a relatively unpublicised adventure.

The runners in the 3100 are literally, running around the block.

In August, another old friend, Rupantar La Russo, one of the four coordinators of the 3,100, asked if I was free to come back and help at the race. Knowing I was now semi-retired, he felt it was worth asking the question.

“Come for as long or as short a time as you like. We will look after you. Someone of your experience would be invaluable and help take the pressure off us.”

I had given a tentative yes without committing to a time frame, thinking I might come for a week or ten days at most. Semi-retirement, for me, has largely meant a “ Slight change of Activity” as I am still heavily involved in many projects.

Two days after I got home to Scotland, I received a call from Rupantar, ‘When are you coming back, “We need you!“ was his simple message. They were a little short of help this year, and he, himself, is getting over the double whammy of a broken leg earlier in the year and a recent major knee reconstruction.

Long story short, I had a couple of upcoming commitments to undertake, but after that, there was no real reason why I couldn’t go and help. No real obstacle except my enthusiasm and willingness. Why not head back and throw myself into helping good friends and a small group of runners undertaking a unique challenge?

THE REALITY OF A 5 WEEK VOLUNTEERING STINT

Sounds fun to you? The reality might be different.

The reality of possibly getting up before 4 am to do the morning shift and help prepare the daily tasks needed, so that when the runners arrived each day just before 6 am to start their daily laps, all was in place and running like clockwork.

Or doing the late afternoon and evening shift, when there always appeared to be more to do and entailed being at the course until midnight and beyond. Although some runners, having reached their daily target, went home early, most ran on until the course closed at midnight, for the daily mandatory six-hour break.

We then ensured all runners had lifts ready and waiting to take them to their nearby accommodations. Two or three runners had their own bicycles to cycle the few minutes to and from the course each day. They saw it as a little warm-up and warm-down to bookend the days running!

During the day, there were all manner of things, from overseeing lap counting and daily checking of lap sheets, all done manually with a push-button electronic backup. Helping sort the ongoing feed station and the regular supply of snacks and food, essential for runners and helpers alike. All snacks and meals were prepared in the race kitchen, a converted garage less than half a mile from the race. Fresh supplies of different snacks and more substantial meals arrived on a regular basis throughout the day.

Also, just keeping an experienced eye on the runners to figure out when they are doing fine and also when they might look as if they might need that little bit of encouragement to either solve or distract them from the usual issues, real or imagined, that always crop up in a multi-day race.

All the things you might do at your local 10k, except I was doing it, not for a few hours on a particular day but for several hours every day for several weeks. Possibly, the ultimate race volunteer gig! In effect, you are helping to organise a 100km race every day for a few weeks!

Thinking about it doesn’t really come into it. Like the runners who undertake a short 50km ultra or this unique challenge, once you decide to do it, you just dive in and embrace the journey, and everything falls Into place. Not doing so makes the journey half-hearted.

As runners, we all know the feeling of going out of our comfort zones in the name of making progress and achieving a goal. I have learned that this applies to helping and volunteering at events as well.

Once you commit to helping at an event, like actually training for a race, you come to terms with the reality of what you have signed up for.

You have a few conceptions of what might be involved in running or helping at certain events, but as the journey quickly unfolds, you soon find out the reality can be a little different to your own pre-conceived expectations!

As a runner, you embrace that reality and adapt to make the progress you are seeking. As a helper, it is similar. In the case of the 3100, that means embracing being on your feet many hours a day, every day, that you have committed to.

Dealing with occasions from the mildly important, like checking and ensuring you will have recorded a potential world record performance correctly, to refilling the drinks table and sorting the ongoing garbage that the event produces.

Never offer advice if it isn’t needed.

As an occasional mentor and team leader to runners at home, you learn two priceless qualities in dealing with ultra runners.

Firstly, never offer advice if it isn’t needed or asked for. More often than not, it won’t be listened to or understood, or both. Also, most runners at an event like this will have their own dedicated support crew who know their runner far better than you.

However, If people do ask for advice, then only tell them what they need to know to solve a specific issue they are dealing with at a particular time! As the saying goes, “Just deal with the problem, right in front of you!”

Secondly, learn the art of listening to what a runner is going through or experiencing so you can then offer them sound advice, if needed, to address their immediate issues rather than the problems you feel need addressing.

In the main, although there are general solutions, each person and each issue is unique at a given time and place, so you are there to offer signposts to runners and support crews to help them solve their problems at that particular time.

You Fall into a Daily routine.

In essence, you fall into a daily routine, broken up with highlights, like a runner reaching a landmark distance like 2,000 miles or 3,000km. In some cases, this might well be a national or world record, so there is a little pressure to ensure a time is recorded properly at the exact correct lap.

Then, you have the excitement, as you count down the days and hours to the first and subsequent runners finishing.

Once runners reach a certain distance, like 2,000 miles, or 2,500 miles, you almost sense their relief as if a weight had fallen off their shoulders. It’s much like getting beyond that point in a marathon when you know most of the hard graft has been run and, barring any major mechanical issues, you have to hang in there as you count down the few miles to the finish.

In this case, though, you are counting down a few hundred miles or days, but you get what I mean.

All the while you are going about your little tasks to ensure the event runs smoothly, you become ever aware of just what a huge commitment and undertaking the runners are putting themselves through. It becomes incredibly humbling to watch as they circle the loop continually, staying focused on the task in hand. In most cases, they achieve a lifetime ambition of running further or faster than they ever could imagine. At the same time, they are going to places inside themselves they probably never knew existed as they face up to the endless doubts their minds occasionally present to them. Not to mention the innumerable potential physical issues that an event this long often presents.

What rewards are there at the 3,100?

The outer tangible rewards are few. For the runners, a simple trophy and some spontaneous applause for their achievement. For the helpers, a thank you, a cool-looking event jacket, and endless ongoing snacks to munch on!

Whether running or helping, it isn’t really the kind of event you sign up for to bask in any outer glory or swell your Instagram followers. As a helper, it helps reinforce the knowledge that all regular volunteers have. Namely, that helping at any event isn’t about YOU. It’s about the runners and helping them achieve their goals. That understanding and realisation are reward enough. That, and the inner feeling of hoping, that in some way, you were useful.

As one regular participant commented, “The sheer challenge of just dealing with yourself for several weeks almost ensures you start to leave your ego behind after a week or two as the enormity of the challenge sinks in.

Or, as four-time winner Andrea Marcato commented,” At times, if you think about the distance still to go and it can feel like you are swimming in the middle of a huge ocean, and you can’t see the land. But you know if you keep going and have belief, you will reach the destination .”

A thought to ponder next time you feel tired when out on your long run!

Full event details with results can be found HERE

A BIG THANKYOU to my friends at the Sri  Chinmoy Marathon team in New York, for their help and generosity in looking after me. Biggest thankyou to Sri Chinmoy, whose idea the event was, and whose inspiration in many areas, encouraging people to step out of their own comfort zones to see the world in a different light are legendary.

All pictures are my own or downloaded from an amazing Day By Day Race Gallery from Sri Chinmoy Ultra Photo’s which  can be viewed in full HERE 

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