On 1 June 1978, while on a visit to San Francisco, Sri Chinmoy went with his students to meditate at "Aspiration-Tree", a special tree which he had planted in Golden Gate Park. Following the meditation, he spontaneously went for a short jog through the park. This day has always been celebrated as the official beginning of Sri Chinmoy's long distance running. He was 46 years old.
Sri Chinmoy rapidly threw himself into this new pursuit, logging hundreds of miles in training. Contrary to conventional wisdom, he took up the challenge of the marathon just nine months after starting long distance running and a brief glance at his career races shows what an intense schedule he followed.
Sri Chinmoy chose to race the longer distances, such as 7 miles and 10 miles, when he first started, it is worth noting that some of his split times in those races are faster than the times he later posted in shorter races.