Visiting San Diego

...Mission Gorge bouldering and climbing

A few years ago I visited the nice city of San Diego where the local Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team was organizing the annual Self-Transcendence Swim&Run. Those few weeks in the company of very hospitable Californians were a most memorable experience and something I will definitely never forget.

Besides the beautiful beach and surroundings where the race was held, the thing I remember most was the incongruity between the amount of sport activities taking place and the hot weather. Fiding some shade in San Diego was a real adventure but it never stopped us running, playing soccer or ultimate frisbee and of course doing some climbing and bouldering. We did some climbing indoors in the Vertial Hold Climbing Gym - I had read that this was the largest climbing hall in Southern California and was anxious too see it... It is just a fraciton of the size of the hall I visited in Zurich, Switzerland but I had a lots of fun climbing there with my friend Atulya.

We also did some bouldering and climbing in the Mission Trails Regional Park in the Mission Gorge climbing area. I will never forget my first experience of climbing there - it was my first time in "desert" conditions. There was a nice breeze but temperatures were still high. We took off our t-shirts and of course went home with red and painful backs. We went there a few times and had a lot of fun doing some unnamed, unrated (at least for us - we didn't care about that) bouldering problems just for pure joy. The granite rock was a welcome contrast to the limestone/conglomerate I usually climb on and I really liked making some fun moves on the flakes of these rocks...

This happened three or four years ago. A recent reunion with Atulya in New York brought it back to mind when we both witnessed our spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy, perform a 256lb wrist curl in each arm and a 740lb double arm lift. Sri Chinmoy tries through weightlifting to inspire his fellow man to greater things. This reunion inspired me to write about the fond memories I had with the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team from San Diego with hope to visit them soon...

Sri Chinmoy's 256lb wrist curl

-by Igor Talevski

Cross-posted from

Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team articles - more articles

About the author:

Tejvan organises short-distance running and cycling races for the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in his home city of Oxford. He is also a very good cyclist, having won the National hill climb championships in 2013 and finished 3rd in the National 100 Mile Time Trials in 2014.

In the 27th edition of the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence Race, Tswi Wen-Ya attained a new women's world record for the 3100 Mile Race, in a time of 45 days +12:28:44. The diminutive runner from Taiwan, overcame tiredness, heavy rain and numerous physical challenges to set this remarkable new record which involved running an average of 68 miles for 45 days straight. After a short victory celebration, she continued to set a new world record for 5,000km in a time of 45 days +14:56:42.

The race saw fourteen runners take to the start line, and each runner had their own unique experience of self-transcendence. The first place finisher was Andrea Marcato from Italy. it was his fourth consecutive 1st place in the 3100 Mile Race and comes after an amazing year which included two ten day races and other ultra-distance events. His time of 43 days+13:33:23 was not a personal record, but he joins the Finnish men's world record holder Ashprihanal Aalto for being the only runner with four consecutive first places.

Another notable achievement was 2nd place, Lo Wei-Ming (Taiwan) who covered 17 of the last 19 days in 71+ miles, including 14 days over 72.4 and 74.3 miles, with two days wrangling 79.4 miles. He averaged 68.343 miles/ 109.986 km per day. He then completed the 13 extra laps needed to reach 5000km in a sparkling time of 45 days+ 11:16:51. These top personal results are National records and Asian records.

The race was inspired by Sri Chinmoy who saw distance running as a unique challenge to bring to the fore all the inner and outer resources of the competitor. Sri Chinmoy taught the real goal was not the outer accomplishment, but the inner progress which can come from transcending our previous capacities, and remaining cheerful whatever happens during the race.

“We compete not for the sake of defeating others, but in order to bring forward our own capacity. Our best capacity comes forward only when there are other people around us. They inspire us to bring forward our utmost capacity, and we inspire them to bring forward their utmost capacity”

– Sri Chinmoy

The race inspired many people who both took part, but also who came to help or cheer on the runners. This video gives an insight into the thoughts, feelings and experiences of the runners

3100 Mile Race Feature on US National Public Radio

3100 Mile Race Featured on NPR

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About the author:

On 30 August 2023, the 27th annual Sri Chinmoy 3100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race began in Jamaica, New York, US. This year, there are fourteen runners are on the start list and it is set to be a great race.

The start list includes the winner of the 2022 Race (Andrea Mercato, Italy) and last year's first woman (Susan Marshall, New Zealand). There are also four new runners - Tsai Wen-Ya, Mahasatya Janczak, Adrian Papuc and Jason Lester who will be entering the 3100 Mile Race for the first time. Despite being experienced ultra-distance runners, there is nothing that can fully prepare you for this unique ultra-marathon event.

In order to meet their goal of 3100 miles (4989km) in 52 days, they must log an average of 59.6 miles (95.9 km) per day. The runners begin at 6 a.m. and run for extended periods throughout the day. If they want to, they can continue as late as 12 midnight when the course closes for the night. After completing the race, runners have the option of continuing on to complete 5000km.

For many years, the race was held in the middle of the New York summer, with scorching temperatures adding to the challenge. Last year, the runners had cooler temperatures but also had to contend with the tail end of a hurricane and frequent heavy, persistent rain. This year the runners will be hoping for more favourable weather conditions, but whatever the conditions, the runners will be ready to seek their own personal self-transcendence and seek to overcome the many obstacles.

Sri Chinmoy the founder of the race saw distance running, and this race in particular, as a valuable opportunity for the runner to seek a life-transforming physical and spiritual self-transcendence.