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

Self-Transcendence 2 Mile Virtual Race - December 20th, 2020

"Self-transcendence-joy unmistakably knows no equal"

Sri Chinmoy

 

We got together for the final race of the series at our usual course on a cold, blustery December 20th. My personal aim was to get under 12 minutes again if I could and Suswara and I were both hoping we could put in some decent times towards the grand prix. We were both on for "superhero status" so long as we finished, as that would mean we had raced (not just run) a 2-miler ever week for 13 weeks.

As soon as we started there was the usual south-westerly headwind to contend with but it was intermittent fortunately, not a constant barrier. As I pushed myself through the half way mark I could see 5.55 on the watch and I almost managed to keep up that pace - but not quite! My speed fluctuated over the last few stretches of cold, wet business park road and I eventually came over the line in 11.53.

Running sub 12 is not getting easier but at least I have been doing it consistently for a few weeks now!

When the results came out I was very happy to see that our GB team had stayed ahead of the Czech Republic and taken first place. The margin was 27 minutes from 6 people over 10 races, so I guess that works out at 2 mins 42 seconds per race between the 6 of us. Definitely those hard efforts made a difference! Dhavala won on a weekly basis with some excellent times, Laurence Duffy was always right up there in the top few finishers which is a massive achievement at age 60. Suswara and I, though, definitely played a good supporting role by turning in some solid times week in, week out, so Team Bristol definitely do share in that success. Jana in London and Nurari in Canberra made up the GB Team so they were also out there every week racing. Only a virtual race, only a bit of fun? Yeah but if you take your fun seriously it is so much more rewarding.

There was definitely some real self-transcendence in this race series - we worked hard at the races and improved our times on anything we'd achieved back in the spring and summer.

No sooner had this race series finished than another one appeared - the variable-distance Christmas Trip Races - but with a marathon in the spring as my main target I will aim to run them all but only race some of them. Famous last words?

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