Sri Chinmoy meets with champion runner Gary Fanelli and honours him with a special song, prior to the Westchester Half Marathon, in White Plains, New York.
Westchester Half Marathon
Stories by Sri Chinmoy
The deer
Before the Westchester Half-Marathon we met with the excellent runner Gary Fanelli, and the singers sang the song that I had dedicated to him. In the song I had mentioned his deer-speed. He thanked me and said that quite often he thinks about a deer while he is running. He said, "It is a very beautiful song. I love you all very much. I hope you all have a good race today."
I told him, "You should come first, as you did last year. You show your deer-speed!"
"After this song I am charged, plugged in," he said.
Then I gave him a copy of the song and I returned the pictures of his two daughters, Laura and Celeste, that he had given me. He saw that I had written "Blessings and Love" on their foreheads. He said, "Nothing means more than your blessings in my life."
I am so happy that he won the half-marathon. Many years ago he had been interested in following our path when he was living in Los Angeles.
The slow runner
During the Westchester Half-Marathon I walked eight or nine times. Shame! Sometimes when I was running, people who were walking were going faster than I was. Since they were walking faster than my running speed, I said, "The best thing is to walk."
Then Cahit Yeter came back after he had finished and ran the last mile and a half of the race with me.
Published in Run and Become, Become and Run, part 6