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

2 Mile (approx) Race - November 2022 - Thomery, nr Fontainbleau, France

The Joy Day gathering near Paris in late 2022 was very special, as it marked the inauguration of an incredible new meditation centre in Thomery. I was utterly blown away when I walked in. It had the rare combination of sacredness (very like our temple at Pujaloy, near Heidelberg, where I often have my best and highest meditations) and the welcoming feel of a family home. To get that combination is very special and for a place to have that feeling when it is so new is incredible too.

After morning meditation on the Sunday, Mukunja led us off through the woods on what had been trailed as 10 mins stroll / 5 minutes jog to the start. It turned out to be more like 15-20 minutes of navigating a maze of woodland paths, so convoluted in fact that we lost our 2 fastest runners on the way (Sadanand and Gianluca from Dublin). Those of us who passed this first test were rewarded with a beautiful triangular course through a woodland shrouded in Autumn mist and thick with leaves.

The going was mostly firm (hard packed paths) but there was the odd patch of mud and there were plenty of awkward tree routes to negotiate. Mukunja's directions were to always take the first right, do 2 laps, oh and the 2nd turn had a bench as a landmark and the finish was exactly where we started. Simples!

We had, as usual, a moment of contemplation in the forest before the start, and Unnatishil recited a poem/prayer from memory (the one about "one perfect road" which is seen on the back of many Sri Chinmoy Races tee-shirts) but he seemed to adapt the wording a little from the original. Certainly it changed with each repetition, but I guess it was close enough. In the absence of the faster guys I went off stupidly quick by my standards, pounding through the forest and trying to avoid the mud and stick to the narrow strip of firm ground. That was easier said than done, thanks to the thick layer of rain-soaked leaves, but somehow I managed to keep a grip on the arrow-straight path without any runners around me to make me swerve or veer off course.

I soon realised I had overcooked the pace and tried to ease off just enough to make it sustainable, without giving up on racing to the best of my ability. The first turn appeared on the right and I leaned into the corner, pleased to see that there was a firm, chalky surface without the covering of leaves for this second side of the triangle. There were more routes and dips on this leg though - or perhaps they were just more visible? That combination of trying to run flat out without any one to pace against, keep my mind clear and also navigate the off-road course was quite intense.

I came into a clearing and saw the landmark bench and several trails that could be called a right turn, so I took the first one which involved almost doing a 180 and found myself on the narrowest of the three paths that made up the loop. The mist was thick here and the forest was silent apart from my footfalls and desperate breathing, I was slowing already although less than half way round but the experience had all the usual pain, exhaustion and elation that you get in these 2-milers. I came out into the clear near the start, dodging past the barriers to shouts of encouragement from Mridanga and Devashishu before leaning again into the tight bend that marked the start of lap 2.

On my second circuit I was lapping the walkers and slower joggers, who were in some cases working just as hard as I was and in other cases having a more meditative experience in the quiet of the morning and the depths of the forest. I tried to pass them without disturbing their poise, which wasn't easy on the narrow sections. Towards the end I managed to gather myself a little and get back towards the pace I'd started at, then after an eternity of a few minutes I was gasping my way over the line. I had planned to extend the run to make it exactly 2 miles, as I had worked out early in lap 2 that the course was  a little short, but after that finish effort I had nothing left. I immediately slowed to a walk, though to his credit Suswara, who came in 2nd, did keep running past the line until his Garmin clocked 2 miles. He leapt the barrier too (a little over knee height as I recall) which I had opted to swerve around.

My GPS showed 1.93 miles at a pace of 6.16 so that would have made a 12:32 two-miler, 11 seconds down on my Macedonia time but not bad seeing as Skopje's course is probably the fastest in the world and this Thomery one had tighter bends, unsure footing and damp leaves. But all in all, I was happy enough to have run the best I could on the day, kept up the effort without other runners around me to feed off and finished without any niggles. I remember being at this pace a few years ago, running around 12:28 in another forest on the edge of Paris, then somehow managing to up my pace to the point where I could run 11:42 in perfect conditions. Can I climb back to that standard from here? It seems unlikely now, but it seemed unlikely then and I still managed to break 12 minutes. I'll certainly try and get there if I can.

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