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

2 Mile Race #1 - Jamaica High School Loop - April 2023

The day after arriving in New York, with the effects of the flight still lingering in my body (in the form of stiffness and a little fatigue), I arrived opposite Thomas Edison highschool to sign up for the first or our 2-milers during Sri Chinmoy Arrival Celebrations. It was clear, bright and just a few degrees above freezing, so I was ready to run in tights and a long sleever, with gloves and hat too. Warmup was on the sacred circuit of the 3100 race, and I threw in a few strides and accelarations which felt pretty good. Perhaps the post-flight-tiredness wasn't going to hold me back much after all?

Looking at the other runners present I reckoned I should be able to push for 4th place, just like on the Christmas Trip a couple of months earlier. My main aim time-wise was to get close to, or hopefully just under, 12:30.

With the immortal Sundar having gone to the other world and Rupantar laid up with a severe knee injury, it was Angugata who gathered us on the start line and intoned the race prayer in his deep and sonorous voice. As we were getting ready to start a police car pulled up - for a second I was concerned the officers inside were planning to stop us running, but after a brief chat with Natabara they turned around ready to act as an escort vehicle. Not something we usually have on our High School loop!

I lined up near the front and when the start came I joined the mad dash for the corner, turning tight and coming over the rise in around 6th or 7th place. Ahead of me were the Guatemalans and the usual suspects for the top 3 places (Shamalya, Sadanand and Apaguha). I was running faster than I could sustain but with anything of this distance a quick start is often worth it - the strategy I call fly-and-die has its merits.

As the first lap span by I found myself hanging with the guys in 4th & 5th, hoping they might not be able to sustain the pace as I knew for sure I couldn't. As we came to the hill I found myself drawing level with them and then as we came over the top and descended to what would usually be the breakfast crowd on the corner of Goose Pond Park (deserted on this occasion, as with low post-lockdown attendance we were mostly fixing our own meals) I eased ahead and started to distance them. Apaguha was doing the same to me - slowly building the gap as he warmed up into a pace I couldn't match. Having him ahead acted as a magnet though, as I strove to limit the increasing distance and keep sight of him ahead on the road.

Half mile times were flashing up on my watch - I remember a 3.03 which made me very optimistic and a 3.15 (doubtless the section with the 2 hills in it) which was not so encouraging, but when I hit the final corner with around 11.40 on the watch I knew that 12:30 was in the bag. I finished 4th as I'd hoped with 12:24, a pleasing result for the just-off-the-plane race. The whole run had slipped by in near silence, with the freezing air on my face and my legs moving better than expected - a really good experience. We gathered afterwards for another repetition of the race prayer and when the fruit was handed out there were items for the first six, so I was the proud recipient of ripe banana for my efforts.

This was a beautiful and intense race, as the New York 2 milers so often are, with so many familiar sensations. The cold air sharp against my skin, the sunlight strobing between the iron railings of Jamaica High School, the unsurprising-surprise of the hill on Chapin Parkway and the rise just after the start, all bringing memories flooding back. My first 2-miler here was probably 29 years ago, though I can't remember if it was run here on the concrete sidewalk loop or the (as it then was) cinder track just the other side of the fence. That cinder track is now a proper 400m Tartan Track, but the outside of the fence has barely changed in those 3 decades. The cars are perhaps a little smaller now than they were back then, but the hard, abrasive surface and the sounds and sights of the loop are much the same.

Sacred Steps Home