Running the marathon

I ran ten miles in our Sri Chinmoy Marathon in San Juan. Many of the runners recognised me. About a hundred people joined, but only two were women. There were national guardsmen in uniform helping out in the race, since we had only nine disciples there. We got a lot of help from the guards and other organisations. Everywhere people gave out water, ERG and time splits. The time splits were in Spanish. I would say, "Please tell me in English." Then they would tell me after I had already gone ten metres past them.

We had to do five and a half laps on the track before leaving the stadium. For the good runners they kept track of the laps. But for the runners like me, who cared? If we deceived anyone, it did not matter since we were not going to get any place. So they did not count our laps.

Even after one mile it was so hot! You just died! I ran five miles at an 8:43 pace. Then I started walking and running. I would run three hundred metres and walk thirty or forty because I had a lot of pain in my foot. In this way I completed ten miles with an average pace of 9:24. Then it started raining heavily.

The winner got cramps at twenty-four miles. Only with greatest difficulty he kept going and stood first. The second runner was only a hundred metres behind him. Both of them entered into the stadium at practically the same time. Last year's best time was 2:27, but this year the winner finished in 2:37 because of his cramps.

At the awards ceremony afterwards there was a large banquet. I would say one line thanking everyone, and Uttama would translate it into ten lines. Usually he translates exactly what I say, but on that day he was elaborating and elaborating.

The Director of the Montreal Marathon happened to be in Puerto Rico on that day, and he had signed up to run in the race. The Montreal Marathon is a very big race, with eight to ten thousand people. He had registered, but then on the day of the marathon, he got sick. He did come to the awards ceremony after the race, but I was in a terrible hurry to catch my plane. Otherwise, I would have spoken to him.