Sri Chinmoy 10k in Battersea Park

I ran in the Sri Chinmoy 10k in Battersea Park last week (November 26th 2016).  The series of races organised there by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and associated Run and Become shop have a deserved good reputation for being friendly and well organised, and also for attracting some good club runners as well as those making their first steps at this distance. The Battersea Park course is fast and flat, and the conditions last week were perfect for speed - cold and dry, but not icy.

214 runners took part, and the first 24 were all under 35 minutes headed by Tony Payne of Wesley Harrierse in 31.47. Lisa Rooney of Collingwood AC was the first woman in 39.11 (full results here)

the start of the race - from Sri Chinmoy photo gallery

Sri Chinmoy on running

Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007) was an Indian spiritual teacher and keen runner, who advocated running and physical exercise as part of spiritual practice: 

"Running offers us the message of transcendence. In our running, every day we are aiming at a new goal... every day we are running towards a goal, but when we reach that goal, we want to go still farther. Either we want to improve our timing or increase our distance. There is no end. Running means continual transcendence, and that is also the message of our inner life."

“These long distance races remind me of our Eternity’s race. Along Eternity’s Shore we are running, running, running. We are running and running with our birthless and deathless hopes. We are running and running with the ever-transcending Beyond"

“Run and become.

Become and run.

Run to succeed in the outer world.

Become to proceed in the inner world.”

(As mentioned here before, Carlos Santana was associated with Sri Chinmoy for a while, hence his Marathon album).

You don't have to worry about being preached at on these runs though - the message is there if you want it, but the organisers are focused on putting on a good race.

As for me, I'm not sure I quite transcended my self, but judging by this picture I was fairly flying at the finish line and did get a big PB - 41:06.

Record Sleeve Athletics (2): Marathon by Santana

Marathon was a 1979 album by Santana, and the sleeve features some ancient Greek runners. As well as a short introductory title track, the album features an equally short bass driven instrumental called Runnin'.

So was Carlos Santana a marathon runner himself? It seems not, but in the 1970s he was a follower of the Indian spiritual guru Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007), as was his wife Deborah. Chinmoy and his devotees were  very involved in athletics, and  the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team continue to organise the Self-Transcendence races across the world including in the UK.

While Santana undertook the rigorous Sri Chinmoy regime, including 5:00 am meditation, he drew the line at marathon running: 'This shit is not for me- I don't care how enlightening it is' (source). Deborah Santana did though take part in marathons and ultra-marathons.