"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

Golden Gate Park - training run September 2019

We couldn't visit San Francisco without taking a run around the birthplace of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team! Fortunately it was just a short jog from the house where we were staying so in the chilly morning mist that seems to hang over this city every day before the Californian sun burns it off, the 5 of us set out for a session in the park. As usual we were a bit of a United Nations of running, hailing from Portuagal, Ireland, England, New Zealand and Australia.

It was in this park some time in the mid to late seventies that a spiritual master and meditation teacher surprisingly started running with his disciples. That was Sri Chinmoy of course and his meditation group, the Sri Chinmoy Centre, acquired a new identity as the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team.

On this misty morning we just ran around the lake and over the wooded hill with it's chinese tea garden and pagodas - we didn't race or do anything else special to commemorate our visit but it was just great to run together - splitting up into groups of different paces and all finding our own way back in ones and twos.

As city parks go this one is pretty amazing - more like a botanical garden, it has gorgeous scenery, waterfalls, woodland and (if you run far enough) views over the bay towards the Golden Gate bridge.

As we headed back out of the park the mist began to lift and chinese autumn gave way to Californian summer.

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